UFI’s 2011 “World Map of Exhibition Venues” identifies 1,197 venues with a minimum of 5,000 square meters of indoor exhibition space worldwide, corresponding to a total gross indoor exhibition space of 32.6 million square meters. This is an increase of 57 venues since 2006, with an overall growth of 3.4 million square meters (54% of the increase is related to new venues and 46% to extensions of existing venues).
UFI has also just released global estimates related to exhibition events with a minimum of 500 square meters of net space. It is estimated that a
minimum of 30,700 exhibitions took place in 2010, a figure which corresponds to 103 million square meters of net rented exhibition space.
UFI data shows that these events attracted an estimated 2.8 million direct exhibiting companies and over 260 million visitors. One significant change is the shift of 2% of the global market share in terms of space rented from Europe to Asia/Pacific. However, the European market (47% of the world total) is still more than double the size of the Asia/Pacific market (20%).
An in-depth analysis confirms that the exhibition industry is largely fragmented between a few very large companies and many small ones. Based on average numbers for 2009 and 2010, it can be seen that 14 companies rent more than 500,000 square meters of netspace on a yearly basis and 82 companies rent up to 50,000 square meters. Further analysis indicates that, on average, the “medium to large” companies (those that rented between 200,000 and 500,000 square meters per year in 2009/2010) performed better than either the smaller companies or the very large ones.
In 2011, UFI also released metrics related to regional exhibition market characteristics and trends. “The Trade Fair Industry in Asia” report (in cooperation with BSG) identifies most b-to-b events in Asia, accounting for 75% of that market. The “Euro Fair Statistics,” whose most recent edition lists the audited statistics of 1,971 trade fairs and exhibitions held in 2010 in 21 European countries, represents 45% of the European market.
UFI also produces a biannual “Global Exhibition Barometer” which assesses the key economic results of companies in the exhibition industry, including turnover and operating profit analysis. The results of the next barometer survey, currently under way, will be released in January 2012.



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