Surveys Positive on Global Industry
Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/14/2007
Three new studies by international associations indicate the global exhibition industry is healthy, although tradeshows on the Indian subcontinent still face major hurdles.
According to a report commissioned by UFI — the Global Assn. of the Exhibition Industry, India's economy — along with its middle class — is growing rapidly, adding tradeshows and exhibition centers and attracting foreign investment almost as fast as the country's infrastructure will allow. But it still acutely lacks exhibition facilities. For instance, China has eight times as much exhibition space and more than three times the number of professionally organized exhibitions.
India has only 14 purpose-built exhibition centers with a total of 205,185 square meters (2.2 million square feet) of indoor exhibit space. Only three exceed 20,000 sq. m. (215,200 sq. ft.), and none exceeds 70,000 sq. m. (753,500 sq. ft.). New Delhi and Mumbai control 70 percent of the country's dedicated exhibition capacity. Nevertheless, India's many assets should still enable it to become a key player in the global exhibition business as time goes on, the UFI study stated.
The report was presented to Indian officials in Mumbai and New Delhi in late April by a delegation that included UFI President Jochen Witt, Managing Director Vincent Gerard and Board Member Ravinder Sethi, chairman of the Intl. Exhibition Logistics Assn.
The studies also indicate the Indian industry is a far cry from that in Germany. The European Institute for the Meetings Industry conducted the first annual Meeting and Event Barometer on behalf of the German Natl. Tourist Board, the German Convention Bureau and the European Assn. of Event Centers, finding that almost 300 million people attended 2.6 million conventions, meetings, exhibitions and other events at 6,000 venues in Germany last year.
The survey compiled information from more than 3,000 suppliers in Germany, 37,000 organizers in Europe and 600 experts from around the world.
The third study, a survey of the U.K.-based Intl. Assn. of Professional Congress Organisers' 90 members announced at the recent IMEX in Frankfurt, found that members managed budgets totalling $1.3 billion with an economic impact of $3.1 billion. IAPCO members managed nearly 3,000 meetings in 2006 with more than 1.4 million participants and 4.4 million sq. ft. of exhibition space.
