INVESTING in venues for business events reaps dividends for industries served by business events and the destinations where they take place, according to the chief executive of UFI – the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
Kai Hattendorf’s comments came in a statement on UFI’s latest World Map of Exhibition Venues, which provides data on 1,425 exhibition venues with a total of 42.1 million square metres.
The report lists the largest venues among with profiles for 21 major markets. Based on a country or market category, China has the most venue space available at 23.9 per cent of global share, followed by the United States and Germany.
Regionally, Europe maintains the biggest share of the world’s total venue capacity at 37.2 per cent. Asia-Pacific has almost caught up with 36.6 per cent was new space gets added across the region as the business event industry grows in those markets.
MORE ‘MEGA VENUES’
Size naturally matters for “mega venues”. These have more than 100,000 sqm of exhibition space – and their number is growing. UFI’s World Map now tracks 81 such venues around the world, accounting for 6 per cent of the total market. Forty of these mega venues are in Europe and 35 in Asia Pacific.
More than a third of all venues belong to the medium-size segment, offering between 20,000 and 100,000 sqm, while 59 per cent of venues globally have an indoor capacity of between 5,000 and 20,000 sqm.
The average size of venues in the Asia-Pacific region exceeds that of any other region, a result of the many infrastructure projects in the region, especially in China.
UFI cooperated with jwc, a management consultancy for exhibitions and conference businesses worldwide, which prepared the report. The new collaboration on the project is set to bring further editions of the report.
“It is remarkable to see that global investments into upgrades and expansions of exhibition venue space have continued throughout the pandemic, a true testament to the power and resilience of our industry’s core business model,” said Hattendorf, UFI’s CEO and managing director.
“Investments into venue space are a win for everyone: for the industries served by exhibitions, and the destinations in which they take place,” he said.
More… UFI rallies exhibition organisers to Macau
Jochen Witt, president and CEO of jwc, added: “By merging the databases of UFI and jwc, we can ensure the utmost data quality for all stakeholders in our industry. The existing World Map of Venues is the result of a thorough reassessment of most markets, providing an accurate representation of venue capacities worldwide.
“Our ongoing partnership with UFI will involve continuous enhancements to the database, ensuring it remains the most comprehensive and reliable quantitative source of venue data in our industry.”
Main picture: Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Centre is one of China’s mega venues that are growing in number as infrastructure projects gather pace
