Editor’ s Note
Gulf crisis stress tests our event resilience again
ince I’ ve been covering this weird and
S wonderful events industry of ours, I have seen it overcome numerous crisis situations including economic recession and the Covid years. Each time resilience has come to the fore, proving the strong foundations the sector is built on.
With Covid the threat was always‘ in the air’ and intangible; today the threat in the Gulf it is very much physical, following Iran’ s decision to target its neighbours with ballistic missiles and drones.
Clearly it is safety first as any ops director would tell you, so for now events are largely postponing across that region, but as Thorns and-45dB managing director Jon Noonan tells us in our report on p26, there is guarded optimism for an autumn reset with‘ resilience’ very much the watchword.
It is important to note also that this regional conflict has repercussions further afield. The Tourism Export Council found that there 77 % of tourism operators reported cancellations from UK and European travellers for March and April 2026 for New Zealand. This illustrates the importance of travel arteries and connectivity. With Middle Eastern hubs out of action, long-haul destinations suffer too.
We also face new waves of transport and airport worker strikes in Germany and the US, also affecting travel journeys, so our agencies are working hard to earn their money in finding ways around the pain points. Whatever doesn’ t kill you makes you stronger they say, well our resilient events industry is certainly experienced in dealing with a range of eventualities and challenges. Let us hope our politicians can find solutions to our bigger political problems that allow us a smooth playing field once more to ply our trade.
Meanwhile, I commend the excellent new research from jwc, revealing a new dimension to country rankings for exhibitions, and we also offer interviews with leaders at the RAI Amsterdam, Money 20 / 20 and Saudi Arabia’ s leading organiser. EW
Paul Colston Editor X: @ ExhibitionWorld Instagram: @ ew _ magazine
Managing Editor: Paul Colston; Portfolio Director: Iain Stirling. International Marketing Executive: Jack Belcher. International Account Director: Myran Balasingham. Graphic Design: The Magazine Production Company. Contact us: Subscriptions:+ 44( 0) 20 8481 1128, Editorial: + 44( 0) 20 8481 1152, Advertising: + 44( 0) 20 8481 1122, Production:+ 44( 0) 20 8971 1132. Exhibition World is published by Mash Media, Second floor, Applemarket House, 17 Union Street, Kingston Upon Thames, KT1 1RP, UK. Tel: + 44( 0) 20 8481 1122 fax: + 44( 0) 20 8481 1144, Email: info @ mashmedia. net Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publishers. Printed by Pensord Press Ltd.
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