Crippled trade shows have had £13bn impact on global economy - trade body

The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry has issued its first assessment of the impact COVID-19 is having on the tradeshow industry

The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) has estimated that trade show cancellations and postponements have had a €14.4bn (£12.6bn) impact on the global economy to date due to the coronavirus crisis.

In its first assessment of the global financial impact of COVID-19 to the sector, the UFI says that exhibitors have lost out on €23bn in orders through not going to industry events.

Of this, UFI estimates lost orders of around €13bn in the APAC, and €9.7bn in Europe.

Data calculations for North America are still underway, the UFI said.

Its CEO Kai Hattendorf said that, with 500 trade shows having been cancelled in recent weeks, COVID-19 is causing "an escalating ripple effect for whole industries".

"These numbers stress the critical importance exhibitions play in any economic recovery - market places and meeting places are the fastest fast track to drive any economic recovery", he said.

"We rely on the joint efforts from policymakers and global leaders to ensure that the companies that organise these events, creating those necessary market and meeting places, will be able to continue to fulfil that role in the future.

"All of these companies are already suffering massively under the current wave of postponements and cancellations."

The UFI estimates that the exhibitions industry generates a total economic output of €22.9bn per month globally on average, translating into more than 270,000 FTE (full-time employment) jobs.