Il exhibition sector is in recovery. This is stated by the twenty-ninth quarterly survey on sector trends conducted by theEconomic Observatory of AEFI for the period April-June 2016, which indicates an overall picture clearly improving compared to the same period of 2015.
The investigation, which involved 25 exhibition centers Italians associated with AEFI, shows a positive trend for all the indicators considered: number of exhibitions, total exhibitors and visitors and occupied area. The number of manifestations (32% of the neighborhoods involved in the survey hosted several exhibitions and 56% recorded stationary status, highlighting the stability of the system). The balance of +20% is particularly significant, especially if compared with the -16% of the first quarter of 2016.
The number of exhibitors – growing for 36% of associates who responded, decreasing for 24% and stable for 40% – shows a balance of +12% which reverses the trend of the previous quarter and of the same period last year when the balance was nil. A further confirmation of the dynamism of the sector.
From the analysis of the origin of the exhibitors, Italians emerge in growth, with a balance of +12%. Occupied surfaces are also growing: 36% of the survey participants in fact recorded an increase and the balance of +12% indicates a clear improvement compared to both the end of March and June 2015.
The greatest contribution to the increase in the overall occupied area comes from Italian exhibitors, with a balance of +4%. No variation instead for the areas occupied by European exhibitors while a slight contraction for non-EU foreigners who recorded a balance of -4%.
Particularly positive are the data relating to visitor flows: increasing for 52% of those interviewed, unchanged for 32% and decreased for 16%. The balance of +36%, net of the stationary component, confirms the positive trend with a decisive increase compared to the previous quarter (+25%) and reverses the negative situation of the same period last year (-4%).
The cross-section of visitors shows a sustained growth of Italians, with a balance of +40%, followed by Europeans (balance +4%). Stable those from non-EU countries that record a zero balance. The lower growth rate of foreign visitors is also attributable to the international geopolitical situation with increasingly stringent security issues that have led to a selection of events to attend.
The forecasts for the following quarter are decidedly optimistic, for all indicators: the number of exhibitors, on the rise for 44% of the districts that participated in the survey and a balance of +40%, and for visitors, for which a balance of +44%, and for the surface occupied for which a positive balance of 36% is expected.
The number of is also improving manifestations: forecasts for the period July-September 2016 indicate a balance of +28%. The data from the AEFI Observatory find further and authoritative confirmation in the comparison with the analysis carried out by ISFCERT-Certification Institute for Exhibition Statistical Data recognized by ACCREDIA in relation to certified exhibitions.
In fact, comparing the performance of the last two editions of 28 international professional exhibitions which took place in the first half of 2016 and which relied on the ISFCERT Institute to obtain the certification of statistical exhibition data, it is also evident in this case an increase in the number of visitors, visits – understood as the number of unique daily entries – of exhibitors and the overall area occupied.
In particular: visitors recorded a total growth of 3,19%, with Italians increasing by +2,46% and foreigners by +6,14%; unique daily entries underwent an overall increase of 6,60% (Italians +6,97%; foreigners +9,00%). The data also indicate that exhibitors grew overall by +3,50% (Italians +4,44%; foreigners +2,05%). Finally, in relation to the area occupied, certified professional events in the first half of 2016 recorded +5,48.
