PARIS — The second edition of the Industry Partner Benchmark Survey, just released by UFI, the global association for the exhibition industry, reflects the negative impact the pandemic has had on the global trade show industry, but with some positive signs.
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The survey shows that services considered essential to organising an event (stand construction, catering, marketing) have seen a steady decline in demand. The percentage of respondents requiring stand construction services has fallen from 80% to 75%; most of the declines have been in a similar range. Consultancy services were among the least used, seeing a further decline in demand compared to last year’s survey, with only a third of trade show organisers using them. The most used services remain stand construction and recruitment and security services, which are probably so widely used because few organisations have in-house staff.
The category that saw a slight increase over last year was digital services, which were used by 67% of respondents this year compared to 66% last year. The other good news was an overall increased demand for event services in the Asia Pacific region.
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The survey also focused on the most important services for the success of an event. Communication and marketing is considered the most important element, which could be related to the ability to monitor the success of these activities more effectively than other services. Interestingly, although stand construction is the most frequently used element, it is not considered the most relevant factor for the overall success of an event.
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Around 190 companies contributed to the survey, developed by the UFI Industry Partners Working Group; the majority of them came from Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
“The results of our first survey showed in concrete terms the value that organisers place on their suppliers and partners for the success of their events. Our second survey goes further and also shows where the relationship between suppliers and partners stands with organisers for their events in the recovery period,” said Ravinder Sethi, Chair of the UFI Industry Partners Working Group.
Download the survey from the UFI website.
Contact Ravinder Sethi at +911126949801 or [email protected]