UFI’s fifth Barometer Survey of the global exhibition industry confirms that the decrease in turnover experienced throughout the industry since the start of the global financial crisis has finally bottomed-out. While a majority of survey participants confirm that their business is still suffering, they also see the light at the end of the tunnel and project an increase in turnover during 2010…
UFI’s fifth Barometer Survey of the global exhibition industry confirms that the decrease in turnover experienced throughout the industry since the start of the global financial crisis has finally bottomed-out. While a majority of survey participants confirm that their business is still suffering, they also see the light at the end of the tunnel and project an increase in turnover during 2010.
The current UFI Barometer confirms the significant regional differences identified in earlier surveys. Whereas survey participants from the Asia/Pacific region appeared hardest hit in 2008, their turnover spiral had bottomed-out by the end of 2009. 76% in the region are
looking forward to a turnover increase during the first half of 2010. This shoots up to 87% of participants for the second half of 2010. Asia/Pacific is the only region where a majority of respondents expect an increase by more than 10% of their 2010 annual profit compared to 2008 (54%) and also consider that the impact of the economic crisis is finally over (58%).
Almost one respondent out of two in the Americas expect their 2010 annual profit to increase by more than 10% compared to 2009, and at the same time expect it to remain stable compared to 2008. The impact of the economic crisis is still felt by a large majority of those surveyed in the Americas and 62% believe that it will continue until 2011. Europe, which was more severely hit by the economic crisis than Asia/Pacific and the Americas in 2009, seems to be facing a longer recovery delay. Only 41% of survey respondents experienced an increase in turnover by the first half of 2010. 80% are still feeling the impact of the crisis today with a majority expecting this to continue until 2011 or 2012.
The Middle East/Africa region appears to be less severely hit than the other regions. Most companies declared a stable 2010 annual profit when compared to that of 2008 or 2009. While a majority continue to some consequences of the crisis, most anticipate this will be
over by 2011.
Surveyed organisations were also asked to identify the three most important issues for their business in the year ahead. The top three issues ranked in order of importance follow:
– the state of the national/regional economy
– global economic uncertainty
– internal management challenges
Manfred Wutzlhofer, UFI President, summarized the situation saying, “When looking at the most important issue identified for the future, a majority of respondents in most parts of the world rank the state of the economy at either the global or national/regional level as their
number one concern. UFI will continue to track this carefully as we develop new insights and trends in forthcoming editions of the Global Exhibition Barometer”.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
