The survey of 386 companies across 58 countries and regions from UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, showed lower operating profit expectations for 2025 across the board, with Australia’s outlook below the global average.
Globally, 30 per cent of companies are expecting higher operating profits in 2025, compared to 40 per cent achieving higher profits in 2024. For 2025, India, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Columbia and Malaysia were the countries from which, proportionally, the most survey respondents indicated increased operating profits.
In Australia, 46 per cent achieved higher operating profits in 2024 but just 29 per cent expect a higher profit in 2025, indicating a considerably larger drop in expectations for this year, compared to 2024 performance.
Twenty-one per cent of Australian companies are expecting a decreased profit of between 11 and 50 per cent in 2025, while no Australian companies reported a profit decrease of that magnitude in 2024, although eight per cent declared an outright loss last year, compared to seven per cent expecting an outright loss this year. Globally, 14 per cent of companies are expecting a profit decrease of more than 11 per cent in 2025, while just two per cent are expecting a loss.
Significantly fewer Australian businesses in the exhibition industry reported increases in rented space in 2025, compared to globally, with the worldwide figure of those who expected to increase rented space sitting at 34 per cent, while only 20 per cent of those in Australia expected a similar increase.
Further to that, 20 per cent of Australian respondents flagged a decrease in rented space of more than five per cent, compared to just 12 per cent expecting the same globally.
Australian companies were also less likely to be taking on new staff, with just 27 per cent indicating they would be increasing their workforce, compared to 40 per cent flagging workforce increases around the world. Countries where the most businesses are looking to boost their headcount are Saudi Arabia, where 80 per cent are in recruitment mode, Malaysia, Spain, the UAE and India. In all of these countries, more than half of operators are expecting to grow their workforce.
When looking at the take-up of AI in the exhibitions industry, Australia proved to be slightly less advanced than the global average, but also slightly more likely to be using AI in some way.
While no Australian companies reported implementing their own AI algorithms, 10 per cent more businesses in Australia are using standard AI tools regularly compared to worldwide figures, while four per cent fewer Australian organisations reported that they were either not using AI or barely using it, compared to globally – just 13 per cent of Australian exhibition companies said they were not using artificial intelligence or using it very little.
