Holding on
Paul Woodward takes on an exhibition Mission Impossible and looks into the crystal ball at what may be coming down the events track in 2022
here is a moment
T in every Mission Impossible film where Tom Cruise almost falls off a tall building or out of an airplane . Cue high tension music and straining muscles as he , possibly assisted by the outstretched hand of one of his team members , claws his way back to safety .
Right now , having signed off from the Exhibition World guest editor role , it feels as though we ’ re only halfway back into the plane . Things were looking pretty good there for a while , but then along came omicron ( which sounds for all the world like something green and bubbling in a little vial that could cause catastrophe if the IMF team can ’ t foil the villain ).
At the beginning of June 2021 in my first comment as guest editor I spoke of the ‘ great reset ’ and the important contribution that exhibitions would make to that . That wasn ’ t all wrong , but it is certainly taking a lot longer than we all hoped for things to get back on track and the reset is far from complete .
We ’ re still seeing a topsy-turvy world where the US has celebrated being back to about 50 % of 2019 business levels in Q3 . Europe was also talking of roughly 50 %, although that seems to have been derailed in recent weeks by a winter delta wave in the northern
“ The larger players are speaking of 25 % of their revenues coming from data by 2024 ”
Above : Paul Woodward countries which have been hit by an omicron tsunami . We are , unfortunately , back in a world of show postponements and severe restrictions on travel , even lockdowns in some countries .
Mixed picture in Asia The picture is more mixed in Asia . China was looking set for a relatively normal year and Informa recently reported to its investors that its larger events were back at 85 – 90 % of pre-pandemic scale . But the Chinese government continues its aggressive zero Covid policy and the second half of the year has seen a number of lightning lockdowns and last-minute cancellations of important events in the major markets of Shanghai , Shenzhen , and others .
The rest of Asia is operating at very low levels with Informa also reporting only 15 % of 2019 business levels . India is now on a recovery track and , so far , seems to be avoiding the next wave . Only the most optimistic would imagine , however , that it can be spared at least some impact from omicron . ►
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 1 2022 25