CEIR Index Reports Two-Percent Decline
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 9/27/2004
Despite the impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a collapse in the tech sector and an economic slowdown, tradeshow business is only down 2 percent since 2000, according to a new study released Sept. 14 by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research.
That 2-percent drop is the average of four factors that CEIR used to chart progress in the U.S. and Canadian tradeshow industry. Despite drops from 2000 to 2003 in the number of exhibitors and attendees at shows and overall revenue (which fell nearly 6 percent), the index average was boosted by a 2.3-percent increase in net square footage.
According to Doug Ducate, CEIR CEO and president, the index is intended to be an objective indication of how the tradeshow industry is faring. By taking tradeshow statistics from a select number of shows and using the year 2000 as a benchmark, it can chart advances and declines in the industry on a year-by-year basis.
The study breaks out 11 different sectors. For instance, the CEIR index indicates shows in the sports, travel, entertainment, art and consumer services sectors are doing particularly well, with 18.8-percent improvement during the period. Not doing as well are communication and technology shows, and consumer and retail shows.
According to a CEIR report released along with the index, the results are based on information obtained from 258 shows. Only 159 of the shows allowed themselves to be identified in the report.
Ducate said he hopes the annual index will eventually become a quarterly report, but at this point "our pool of data wasn't that deep." He encouraged show managers to submit their show figures to CEIR for inclusion, noting that "we will not report on any single event; it will only be reported in the aggregate."
