Asia is expected to surpass performance in 2019 by the end of 2023. Photo Credit: Adobe stock/Microvector
UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has released
the 18th edition of its annual report on Asia’s trade fair industry.
This edition marks a relaunch of this report after the global pandemic.
The report provides a detailed overview of the performance in 2022 of 17
exhibition markets in Asia. It also provides insight and commentary
into the scale of the recovery in 2023 and looks ahead to 2024. The
research was undertaken for UFI by Business Strategies Group (BSG) in
Hong Kong.
2019 vs 2022
Year-on-year comparisons have been rendered somewhat meaningless due
to the global pandemic, so this report compares the performance of 2022
to 2019. It is important to note that during COVID, BSG’s bottom-up
approach to estimates of net space sold was challenged by a dynamic and
rapidly changing trading environment, as well as by the limited
availability of accurate data during various lockdowns across the
region. Despite these unique circumstances, the report provides reliable
insight into the state of the Asian trade fair market in 2022.
Overall, BSG estimates that Asia recorded a huge 87% drop in net
space sold in 2022 compared to 2019 as a result of the global pandemic.
Net space sold fell from 24.5 million sqm in 2019 to just 3.2 million
sqm in 2022.
Net space sold in most of the trade fair markets fell by 60% to 70%
in 2022 vs 2019. This includes much of Southeast Asia and some of the
larger trade fair markets such as Japan, India, and Korea.
China, which accounted for 60% of the region’s net space sold in
2019, was closed for all of 2022. As a result, more than 14 million sqm
was effectively removed from the market. This was entirely driven by
Beijing’s COVID-zero policies which prevented events from being held and
kept China’s borders closed for all of 2022.
Hong Kong and Macau largely followed Beijing’s lead and net sqm sold
in both of those two markets were down approximately 90% compared to the
2019 figures. Taiwan managed a modestly better performance with a more
than 70% drop.
Something to cheer about
The good news is that all of the key exhibition markets have recorded
a remarkable recovery in 2023. China, Japan, India, South Korea and
Hong Kong account for more than 80% of net space sold in the region and
all are expected to match or surpass net space sold in 2023 when
compared to 2019 levels. And more growth is forecasted for 2024.
UFI Asia/Pacific regional manager and BSG’s MD, Mark Cochrane, said,
“In 2022, the U.S. and European exhibition markets had begun to move on
from COVID, but in Asia, many of the restrictions and challenges
remained. In fact, China’s exhibition industry was non-existent in 2022.
As a result, net square meters sold were at the lowest levels since
this report was launched in 2004. The good news is that in 2023, the
industry has rebounded much faster than expected.”
Kai Hattendorf, UFI MD and CEO, said, “The recovery that we have seen
in Asia in 2023 is nothing short of remarkable. It demonstrates the
resilience of our industry and the irreplaceable value of face-to-face
interactions. This report is a valuable resource not only for its
proprietary statistics and figures, but also for the insight it provides
into the trends and challenges that will shape the Asian exhibition
industry in 2024 and beyond.”
The report provides detailed information on the development of trade
fairs and supporting facilities in 17 markets: Mainland China, Hong
Kong, Macau, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar
and Vietnam.