Trade shows boost Paris Region's MICE sector

What conclusions can be drawn from the exercise? 2023 for Paris Region trade fairs ? Like the other branches of the MICE and business travel industries, business is on the up, approaching pre-crisis volumes once again. And the last quarter will have accelerated progress towards this objective, as shown by the latest barometer of the CCI Paris Ile-de-France.

"For the first time in 4 years, Paris Region trade shows recorded better results at the end of 2023 than they did before the health crisis."says the report. It goes on to say that "trade fairs for the general public are still slightly below pre-pandemic levels". In concrete terms, the figures for the fourth quarter show an increase compared to the end of 2019, in terms of exhibitors (+7.7%), stand space (7.6%) and visitor numbers (4%).

Boosted by this last quarter and therefore by the trade showsHowever, the annual results still suffer from the comparison with the pre-Covid figures. Last year, trade fair activity reached 91% volumes for 2019 according to the CCI Paris Ile-de-France.

" Although activity was well up on the previous session, it was still slightly below the level seen in 2019 (the last pre-pandemic reference year)." sum up the authors of the report, who are looking forward to " a massive return of foreign customers from afar "The aim is to confirm this in 2024.

The double-digit growth seen in the various performance indicators nonetheless testifies to a fine dynamic for the Paris Region MICE sector, especially as the "B to B" headliners - notably VivaTechWorld Nuclear Expo and Vinexpo & Wine Paris - exceeded their 2019 performances. As did the Parasitec event, although in this case it is more likely to be a direct consequence of the media coverage of bedbugs than a fundamental trend...