Industry View
Our global
impact
UFI MD and CEO Kai Hattendorf on
the association's unprecedented Global
Economic Impact Study
Why did UFI decide to conduct this research?
The industry
in numbers
• £252bn annual
business sales
during 2018
• £153bn contribution
to global GDP
• 303 million direct
visitors
• 3.1 million jobs
• 112 million visitors
in Europe
There simply were no global numbers available
covering the total impact of exhibitions.
Numerous valuable economic impact reports
for the exhibition industry exist, commissioned
in the last few years, but almost all are at the
national level and based on a broad variety of
methodologies, or adding other types of events to
the equation. We have asked Oxford Economics
to build a standardised global framework, based
on square metres as the key metric for our
industry. We now know the direct spending, the
indirect spending, the induced spending and
we have solidly sourced data that goes beyond
national or regional data. So, together with the
UFI data on visitors and exhibitors, we have a
global set of numbers for the first time.
Why is it important to put a number on the
industry’s global economic impact?
It is important because we can use these global
figures to promote the value of exhibitions to
stakeholders all around the world. We can now
confidently state that the global exhibition
industry generates €68.7bn in direct GDP and
generates a total economic impact of €275bn.
This would rank our sector as the 56th largest
economy in the world, above countries such as
Hungary, Kuwait and Ecuador.
What is the benefit for individual countries
and associations?
We designed this economic impact study in
a framework so that the exhibition industry
associations which are members of UFI can take
this data and break it down to their national and
regional level. We hope to have country profiles
or reports on the economic impact for various
home markets. We are already working on the
first national report – and a number of other
54 — May
countries have already asked how to join the
project.
What’s been the most interesting finding?
Apart from the regional analysis the report
offers, we have also calculated the total economic
impact per exhibiting company (€60,700) or
sqm of indoor exhibition space (€7,900). These
figures can be used when looking at building new
venues or expanding current facilities, and I think
are a metric that will generate some interesting
extrapolations in the future. I think as more
people analyse, interpret and use this data, more
interesting findings will follow.
What’s next?
We have already seen the success of collaboration
between many exhibition industry associations.
In the past three years, UFI has essentially
doubled the research we produce and publish – on
the global scale as well as for regional data, and
on what we call 'topical research' like the Global
Visitor and Global Exhibitor Studies we do jointly
with Explori. We will continue to improve the
reports we have developed so far, and continue to
develop new ones. The next one is in the pipeline
now, so watch this space!
Why was the research released now?
We have been working on this research for
some months and wanted to publish it ahead
of Global Exhibitions Day, which this year falls
on Wednesday 5 June. It is a great opportunity
for everyone involved in exhibitions around
the world to come together and celebrate our
industry, and having these top line global figures
will hopefully help people move the needle.
The UFI European Conference comes to the NEC on
15-17 May