Top 4 Trade Show Industry Trends in Australia and Asia

Summary

  1. Exhibitors are spending more on booth space and promotion whereas spending on exhibit design and show services has decreased.
  2. China remains the #1 country in Asia in terms of booth space sold and is six times larger than the #2 country (Japan).
  3. The trade show industry in Australia is still healthy and growing at 3.1% per year.
  4. More exhibitors around the world are incorporating digital services and products into their exhibits. 100% of exhibitors in Germany have already digitised their booths.

Trade shows play an important part in a country’s economy. For example, in Germany, the trade show sector generates over 3 billion euros per year.

In 2014, there were over 2,000 exhibitions staged in Australia, attracting over 9.3 million visitors and over 65,000 exhibitors. Exhibitions as part of a conference were the most common type of exhibition, although these events tended to be small in scale.

Trade shows in Australia

Number of exhibitions 2,157
Number of attendees 9,354,553
Number of exhibitors 65,203

Overall, 3% of exhibition visitors were from overseas, 6% were from interstate and 91% were from within the event state.

Trade show spending and budget allocation

  • Exhibit space increased from 29% to 39%.
  • Promotion increased from 9% to 13%.
  • Exhibit design decreased from 18% to 11%.
  • Show services decreased from 18% to 11%.

Exhibitors are spending more on booth space and marketing whereas their budget allocation to exhibit design and show services have declined.

Fastest growing countries for trade shows

In 2016, 20.77 million m2 of space was sold globally by exhibition organisers which represented a 5.5% increase compared to last year.

Out of that, 58% was sold in China at 12 million m2. To put that into comparison, the space sold in China is six times larger than Asia’s second largest trade show market, Japan (2.06 million msold)

The Philippines was the fastest growing in Asia in 2016 with a growth of 9.6%.

Country Growth in space sold
The Philippines 9.6%
China 7.7%
India 7.4%
Vietnam 7.3%
Indonesia 5.8%
Thailand 3.8%
Australia 3.1%
Korea 2.7%
Taiwan 2.3%
Japan 0.5%

Asia also now offers more exhibition venue space than North America. Europe still remains at the #1 spot and captures 45% of the global exhibition market share.

Total number of exhibitions (Asia-Pacific)

Industries No.of exhibitions
Industrial and heavy machinery 346
Discretional consumer services, education, and travel 277
Electronics, IT, and telecommunications 204
Consumer goods and retail trade 190
Building and construction 181
Food and beverage 174
Transportation 130
Medical and healthcare 134
Agriculture, forestry, and energy 107
Business services, financial, legal, and real estate 95
Security and defence 67

Total space rented (Asia-Pacific)

Industries Average size (in sqm)
Consumer goods and retail trade 3.1 million sqm
Building and construction 2.6 million sqm
Industrial and heavy machinery 2.3 million sqm
Discretional consumer services, education, and travel 2.3 million sqm
Electronics, IT, and telecommunications 1.7 million sqm
Transportation 1.1 million sqm
Food and beverage 1.0 million sqm
Medical and healthcare 0.9 million sqm
Agriculture, forestry, and energy 0.6 million sqm
Business services, financial, legal, and real estate 0.4 million sqm
Security and defence 0.3 million sqm

The exhibition industry is going digital

In UFI Global Exhibition Barometer 2017 report, 2 out of 3 survey participants reported that they have added digital services/products like apps and digital signage around their existing exhibitions.

In Germany, 100% of survey participants reported that they have added digital services/products in their exhibit booths. 82% in Brazil and 73% in US.

Digitisation efforts % of respondents
Added digital services/products around our existing exhibitions like apps and digital signage 65% said yes
Changed internal processes and workflows in our company into digital processes 59% said yes
Developed a digital transformation strategy for individual exhibitions/products 33% said yes
Developed a digital transformation strategy for the whole company 23% said yes
Created a designated function in management 23% said yes
Launched digital products not directly related to existing exhibitions 19% said yes

Bottom line

  1. Exhibitors are spending more on booth space and promotion whereas spending on exhibit design and show services have decreased.
  2. China remains the #1 country in Asia in terms of booth space sold and is six times larger than the #2 country which is Japan.
  3. The trade show industry in Australia is still healthy and growing at 3.1% per year.
  4. More exhibitors around the world are incorporating digital services and products into their exhibits. 100% of exhibitors in Germany have already digitised their booths.

Our range of exhibition displays

Source

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