PARIS – The news from the 28th UFI Global Exhibition Barometer is positive: the recovery is gathering pace and global exhibition revenues are expected to reach 71% of 2019 levels this year.
“The sun is finally rising at the end of a long, dark pandemic,” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI’s Managing Director and CEO. “The outlook for 2022 is brighter and continues to improve rapidly.”
The UFI study includes outlooks for 24 target countries organized by region: North America (Mexico and the United States), Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
When asked to characterize their level of activity as “normal,” “reduced,” or “zero” from July 2021 and to include their forecasts through June 2022, two-thirds of respondents—401 companies in 53 countries and regions—expect to operate at “normal” levels in the second quarter. But it’s abundantly clear that the recovery differs across regions, with some countries, including Germany and much of Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa, lagging behind.
When asked when they expect to resume normal operations, 6 in 10 North American companies say “as of February 2022.” The forecast looks even better for several major markets in Central and South America, with more than 8 in 10. But in Europe, most companies expect normal activity levels to begin in March 2022, and in Germany, this is not expected until May. The situation is also very different in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa, where Japan and the United Arab Emirates appear to have been less severely affected than other countries in the second half of 2021, and only Australia, India and Malaysia expect a return to normal activity levels in the first half of 2022.
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Globally, corporate revenues in 2021 were just 41% of 2019 levels, although companies in some countries fared much better, including France (62%), Russia (61%) and China (60%). Countries where 2022 revenues are expected to far exceed the expected global average of 71% of 2019 levels include the United States (84% of 2019 levels), Brazil and France (79%), Spain (78%), Colombia, China and Japan (77%), and Thailand and the United Kingdom (76%).
Contact Kai Hattendorf at [email protected] or (33) 1 46 39 75 00