In less than a month's time, on 17 September, the Porte de Versailles trade fair opens its doors.IFTM Top Resa. The French B2B trade show for the tourism industry should, according to its organisers Managing Director Laurence GaborieauIn fact, the World Association of the Exhibition Industry recently published its Global Barometer - the 33rd - pointing to a positive dynamic for professional events in more ways than one. L'UFI even describes 2024 as a record year for this sector, based in particular on revenue increases of 20% for 2023 and 17% this year, across the 19 markets surveyed by the association, including France.
" This edition of the UFI Barometer's flagship study confirms our initial data from January that 2024 will be a record year for industry revenues worldwide. "says Kai Hattendorf. The association's CEO continues: " This edition shows how this growth is translating into new jobs in our sector, as well as expansion plans on the part of the majority of companies - targeting both new business activities and new geographies. Against a complex global backdrop, the global exhibition industry is optimistic about its short- and medium-term prospects. ".
Le French market is set to build on this positive momentum. According to the UFI barometer, the proportion of professionals forecasting an increase in exhibition activity is rising steadily. It reaches 40% for projections for the first half of 2025, compared with 25% and 31% for the first and second halves of 2024. The only fly in the ointment: after a sharp increase (+25%) between 2022 and 2023, revenues are expected to stagnate - and even fall slightly (-2%) this year. However, according to the UFI barometer, revenues in Europe as a whole (+12%) and even more so globally (+17%) are showing significant increases.
Positive figures for the French market, but revenues set to stagnate this year
The promise of AI, with the climate taking a back seat
Furthermore, according to the authors of the report, "Globally, there is an overwhelming consensus that AI will affect industry, as stated by 90 % of companies. The areas expected to be most affected by the development of AI are the same across all regions: 'Sales, marketing and customer relations' (83 % globally), 'Research and development' (82 %) and 'Event production' (69 %). These are precisely the areas in which generative AI applications are already being used most frequently, across all regions (39 %, 38 % and 28 % globally, respectively)."
Finally, it should be noted that the sustainable development is still struggling to find its way into the priorities of industry professionals. They are primarily focused on the economic situation in their domestic markets, global economic developments and geopolitical challenges. Only 9% of those surveyed - compared with 10% in the previous barometer - consider the climate to be a crucial issue at the moment.
