Cover story
Cover Story: Covid-19
UFI global
assessment of
economic impact
of Covid-19
The headlines from UFI’s mid-March
update report of the economic impact
of Covid-19 on our sector showed that
€134bn (US$145bn) of contracts were
not concluded due to events not taking
place as planned through Q2 2020.
UFI noted also that €81.6bn of total
economic output would not now be
generated related to the exhibition
industry by the end of Q2.
The €134.2bn worth of orders not
secured at shows to the end of the
second quarter of 2020 represents
an increase of almost five times the
figure reported by UFI in its earlier
report (€23bn), which took into
account cancellations only up to the
end of the Q1.
“Right now, the marketplaces
that industries rely on to trade are
closed around the world. This is
unprecedented…the entire global
exhibitions and events industry is
grinding to a halt,” said Kai Hattendorf,
UFI Managing Director/CEO.
The €81.6bn of total economic
output not generated by the end of Q2
has been broken down into regions.
The total economic impact that will not
now be generated is, respectively:
- €21.8bn and 378,000 FTE jobs for
Asia/Pacific
- €28.8bn and 257,000 FTE jobs for
Europe
- €29.2bn and 320,000 FTE jobs for
North America.
“We call on every government
to secure the future of our sector
through imminent subsidy and credit
programmes. Their investments now
will pay off extremely well. We will
build and operate the marketplaces
and meeting places for all the sectors
and industries to meet and do business
after the pandemic - our industry
18
Issue 2 2020
provides the fastest of all fast tracks
to any economic recovery,” said Kai
Hattendorf (and you can read more
from Kai on this on p.10).
A survey from the International
Federation of Exhibition and Event
Services (IFES) backed up the UFI data,
claiming that Covid-19 had put at risk
nearly 250,000 jobs in the exhibition
stand construction sector throughout
Europe. IFES said 300 of its members
were projected to lose approximately
50% of their annual revenue.
Many of these stand contractors are
SMEs and “fall through the ranks when
it comes to system relevance,” said
Torsten Heinze, Vice-Chair of IFES.
In some European countries,
measures such as short-time work
compensation and state bank
guarantees for loans have created
opportunities to bridge liquidity
bottlenecks. Nevertheless, company
debt continues to grow and many
will become insolvent if help is not
offered. “Tradefairs without tradefair
construction - that doesn’t exist,” was
how IFES MD Uta Goretzky reacted.
Lost revenues
On the tradeshow organiser side,
US$318m in revenue was lost in the US
by 15 March, according to the Center
for Exhibition Industry Research
(CEIR). By that date, CEIR calculated
that 50 B2B events had announced
their cancellations. That was
equivalent, the association reckoned,
to a total loss of 5.2 million NSF and
$318m in show organiser revenue.
Taking into account direct spending
of exhibitors and attendees, the loss to
the US economy by mid-March stood
at $1.8bn.
In Australia, The Business Events
Council of Australia (BECA) said the
country was losing AUD$2.5bn per
month in cancelled business events.
BECA reminded the sector’s input to
the wider economy was AUD$30bn
a year and it employed more than
193,000 people.
What is to
be done?
eschedule rather
than cancel
Many organisers and
venues have been
working hard to save events by
rescheduling and postponing rather
than cancelling outright.
The roll call of postponed major
events is long but examples include:
Clarion Events Africa’s Africa Utility
Week and POWERGEN Africa, due to
have run in May, and which are now
booked in 24-26 November 2020, at the
same venue - CTICC, Cape Town, South
Africa.
African Utility Week and
POWERGEN Africa attract over 10,000
people from more than 90 countries
and is the largest energy show on
the continent. 2020 marks its 20th
anniversary.
“The health and safety of our
exhibitors, visitors, employees and
the wider public is of paramount
importance to us,” said Clarion Events
Africa MD David Ashdown in an
organiser statement all too typical of
the times.
Media 10, organisers of the world’s
longest running exhibition (110 years),
the UK’s Ideal Home Show, were still
looking for new dates as we went to
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk