While the agriculture trade show is currently being held at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Center after a truncated year and a cancelled date, the event bringing together three trade shows in Vienna next March has been postponed to 2023. The sector still lacks the business benchmarks to be able to project forward. A situation that has not prevented professionals from making the most of these months of fluctuating activity to move forward.
A sector waiting for a sustainable recovery
The tourism fair, the real estate fair and the Wohnen & Interieur have been postponed to 2023, a definite loss for the occupation of accommodation in the Austrian capital. Conversely, after a rearranged 2021 session in the French capital, the MIPIM is about to open its doors in 2 weeks in Cannes, an impact clearly visible in the booking data for mid-March. The event welcomed 26,800 people to the Mediterranean in 2019, if the 2022 edition will not be at the level of the gauges prior to the crisis related to COVID 19. It is a strong signal for the market of conferences and events as well as an important booster for the frequentation of accommodation in Cannes at the very beginning of the season.
Paris, ranked in 2019 as the top convention and event destination by ICCA, recently shared activity indicators for the last quarter of 2021 that are certainly encouraging but still far from 2019. According to the Paris Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 77.1% fewer trade shows were scheduled in Paris Region in 2021 than in 2019. Exhibitor attendance was down 68% after years 2017 to 2019 of increased activity. An encouraging medium-term indicator of the resilience of the business market visible after the attacks of 2015 and 2016.
Thus, in 2021, 202 face-to-face trade shows were cancelled, representing a loss of €2.2 billion in economic benefits for the territories, according to data provided by the Paris Region Chamber of Commerce.
The signs are there, as confirmed by the organization of certain key events such as the MIPIM and the Agricultural Show. However, trade show organizers are waiting for a clearer normalization in order to regain confidence in a growth cycle...
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