Trade show organisers continue to suffer from cancellations and postponements due to the virus outbreak. AMR International says a total of 2,013 exhibitions have either been postponed or cancelled. Although some 82% of these shows are said to have been postponed, AMR predicts that up to 50% of them will ultimately be cancelled, therefore skipping the 2020 edition.
Some 40% of all impacted events are accounted for by Germany, US, China and France. But Germany, with 12% of postponements and 16% of cancellations, has been worst hit with a total of 340 shows so far impacted. The overall market contraction is expected to be more than 20%.
Reed Exhibitions’ parent RELX said this week that the company has lost 5% of expected revenues in 2020 through cancellations. But it may get worse because events accounting for 30% of the year’s expected revenues have been rescheduled into the second half.
The restrictions on travel and large events are likely to be only gradually unwound around the world. But what may be more worrying is the expected follow-on recession in many countries. An analysis this week showed that, a full three years after the last recession in 2008, some 37-42% of the surviving trade shows were 20% smaller (on the basis of sq m of exhibition space) and only 13-15% were 20% or more larger. The analysis by Events Intelligence also shows that the exhibitions fallout from any recession tends to be delayed and that 2022 is likely to be the worst year.
