Reposted from: Xinhua News Agency Shanghai Branch
Xinhua, Shanghai, November 10, by reporter Wu Yu. Despite difficulties such as weak global economic recovery and challenges to economic globalization efforts in some regional markets, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry predicted at its 83rd annual congress in Shanghai on November 10 that the global exhibition industry would continue to grow this year and next year, and that China is expected to become one of the most exciting and dynamic markets.
At the 83rd annual congress themed The Chain Reaction: Transforming the Exhibition Industry, UFI predicted that in the global market, the outlook for North America was very optimistic. Among the 10 exhibition companies surveyed in North America, 80 percent expected revenue to continue growing this year and in the first half of next year, while 50 percent said annual profit growth last year and this year exceeded 10 percent.
In Europe, among established German exhibition companies, less than half expected performance to continue growing in the first half of next year. The United Kingdom, whose exhibition market had long been strong, faced some uncertainty after Brexit. By comparison, emerging exhibition markets such as Turkey and Russia showed no significant change.
In Central and South America, most exhibition companies expected revenue to decline year on year this year, but still had confidence in the outlook for the first half of 2017. Except for Brazil, other major exhibition markets in Central and South America predicted that industry profits would continue rising.
In Asia, the Middle East and Africa, 30 percent to 50 percent of surveyed companies said their corporate profit growth last year and this year could exceed 10 percent. China's exhibition market, after nearly 10 years of rapid growth, has slowed somewhat but remains a focus of the global exhibition industry and is expected to become one of the most exciting and dynamic markets.
According to UFI statistics, China currently has more than 11 million square meters of net exhibition area each year for business-to-business exhibitions, meaning that more than half of Asia's professional B2B exhibitions are held in China.
The 83rd UFI annual congress opened in Shanghai on November 9 and lasted four days.