Asia exhibition industry continues a strong growth momentum

 UFI has just released the 11th edition of The Trade Fair Industry in Asia, which shows that Asia exhibition industry continues to grow fast in China and Asia. BSG’s research shows that 18.6 million m2 of space was sold by exhibition organisers to their clients in Asia in 2014. This represents growth of total net space sold in 2014 of 6.8% - rising from 17,453,000 m 2 in 2013 to 18,641,750 m2 . The growth is similar to the 6.6% recorded in 2013. Of that total, more than 56% was sold in China and 11% in Japan. Among the more than 2,100 trade fairs included in the study, over 600 were held in mainland China compared with 338 in Japan the second largest market. Southeast Asia markets performed well once again in 2014. Space sold in Indonesia increased by 9.2%, the Philippines by 8.8% and Thailand by 8.6%. One of the region’s smallest exhibition markets, Macau, was the top performer in 2014 as net space sold there increased from 143,000 m2 to 197,500 m 2 . Several of the larger markets also posted above average growth. Space sold in China was up 7.4%, India by 7.6%, Taiwan by 8.8% and Korea by 8.2%. In 2015, BSG is forecasting regional growth in the Asian trade fair industry of 5.2% year-on-year measured in terms of net space sales. Strong performance will be seen in trade fair markets in Southeast Asia and the relative resilience of the industry in China. UFI Managing Director, Paul Woodward, said “Asia remains a critical region for those developing international trade fair businesses and many people in our industry will be encouraged to see the results of this important survey. It is an important collaboration between UFI and its partner in Asia, BSG, and a critical component of UFI’s annual research programme. This research was once again undertaken for UFI by Business Strategies Group (BSG). UFI members are entitled to receive a four page executive summary of the research and to purchase the full report at a substantial discount. For more information on this study, please contact UFI in Asia at: asia@ufi.org