UFI BAROMETER REPORT
Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC).
Feedback on the results from South African exhibition industry leaders
G
ill Gibbs, chairperson of EXSA Looking at the statistics, there are some clear indications as follows: • By June 2021, only 33 per cent of respondents are expecting some sort of exhibition to take place. Before that time, reduced or zero activity is anticipated. • It will be interesting to see the stats from July 2021 onwards, once UFI conducts their next survey, to evaluate
at what stage respondents perceive that exhibitions will be starting to return – and if so, in what format – hybrid, physical or dual? • An item that is clear with regards to the bouncing back of the exhibition industry, is that government will have to look at relaxing the current travel restrictions – 73 per cent of the South Africans surveyed, believe that this is critical to enable exhibitions to return. • From the detailed revenue stats, the exhibition industry has downsized dramatically, compared to that of 2019, as well as operating profits that have turned into losses of up to 80 per cent, according to respondents of this survey. • Looking at the stats where they mention benefit from public financial support, an overwhelming 73 per cent of respondents did NOT receive the support and 87 per cent of all companies in the survey had to reduce their workforce as a direct result of the pandemic. • On the question raised: “if there is no
16 Business Events Africa February 2021
business for the next six months, which best-scenario applies?” – an overwhelming 80 per cent indicated that they will be struggling, and out of that 80 per cent, 33 per cent cited that they would have to close their businesses. • When reviewing the most important business issues in our exhibition industry, the South African stats are much higher than that of the global average for: - The impact of Covid on business. - The state of the home economy. - The global economy developments, with the state of the home economy being 33 per cent versus 19 per cent for the global average, which is extremely high. • If you look at the stats for the format of exhibitions in the coming years for South Africa, hybrid events with more digitalisation are prominent, although the concept of virtual replacing physical events is definitely not on the cards – 43 per cent of respondents cited that virtual will not replace physical. www.businesseventsafrica.com
