DALLAS — Recent growth in the U.S. exhibition industry may be choppy, but things are definitely headed in the right direction, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research’s just-released fourth-quarter report. CEIR said the industry improved significantly in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the previous seven quarters.
Around 98% of exhibitions were cancelled in the second half of 2020. This figure fell to 91.3% in the first quarter of 2021 and to 12.5% in the fourth quarter.
This dramatic drop in canceled events boosted the overall fourth-quarter index result. The CEIR total index, a measure of overall exhibition performance, showed the industry was still down 45.3% from 2019. Among other categories still down from 2019, attendees suffered the largest decline at 43.2%, net square footage declined 41.9% and actual revenues followed closely at 40.6%. Exhibitors saw the smallest contraction at 36.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
The good news is that the U.S. economy has been growing since May 2020. With a sharp rebound in the third quarter of 2020 and a continued recovery in the fourth quarter of 2021, real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2021 was 3.2% above its peak in the fourth quarter of 2019. Add to this the fact that the fourth quarter of 2021 numbers were negatively impacted by the Omicron spike, which is fading, and the outlook for 2022 is positive.
“With more vaccine mandates and safety measures implemented at large gatherings, and with a majority of the population vaccinated, the recovery of B2B exhibitions is expected to continue in 2022, unless a new variant causes a severe fifth wave of COVID-19 infections,” said CEIR CEO Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE, CEM. CEIR plans to release its 2022 CEIR Index Report in early May. Click here for more information.
Contact Cathy Breden at (972) 687-9201
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