AEFI ECONOMIC OBSERVATORY ON THE TRADE FAIR SECTOR

The twenty-sixth quarterly survey on trends in the trade fair sector conducted by the AEFI Economic Observatory for the July-September 2015 period indicates an overall situation which improves significantly on the previous quarter and represents consolidation with respect to the corresponding quarter last year.

The survey, which involved 25 AEFI-member Italian trade fair districts – through the positive and negative balances defined on the basis of responses from members who took part in the analysis – highlights a positive trend in terms of the total of visitors and exhibitors. The indicators concerning the number of exhibitions and exhibition space taken remain stable.

There is a positive trend in the number of exhibitors, with a balance of +16% recorded from the members’ responses, a significant increase with respect to the previous quarter, when it was nil, and essentially in line with the same period last year, when it was around +20%.
The cross-section of where exhibitors came from is also interesting, showing good performance from Italians and other Europeans (with a balance of +13%,) while non-EU foreigners recorded a balance of +4%.

The growth in the number of exhibitions was consolidated, with 79% of respondents recording a static situation. The balance of districts that recorded an increase (12.49%) and those that indicated a decrease (8.33%) is positive, for a figure of +4%. The differential confirms this consolidation both with respect to the same period last year, when it was +32%, and compared to the second quarter of this year, when it was +16%.

The exhibition space taken, despite a large static component, saw a balance of +29%: a marked improvement both with respect to the second quarter of 2015 and compared to the same quarter last year. The balance was +8% in both cases. The greatest contribution to the increase in total space taken was made by Italian exhibitors, with a balance of +30%.

The visitor intake increased for 41.66% of the members involved in the survey and was the same for 41.69%. The positive balance of +25%, excluding the static component, is particularly telling, above all because it inverts the trend of the last quarter (+4%) and comes back in line with the situation at the end of September 2014. The positive trend in the quarter considered comes courtesy of foreign visitors from the EU, with a balance of +30%, followed by non-EU visitors (+21%) and Italians (+17%).
         
Finally, the forecast for the next quarter, October-December 2015, is optimistic, though more moderate than for the same period last year. This both in terms of the number of exhibitions, increased for 28% of the districts that took part in the survey, and of exhibitors, with growth of 36% for members.

AEFI – the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association – was set up in 1983 with a view to generating synergies between the most significant Italian exhibition districts. Specifically, AEFI would like to be seen as a privileged partner for operators and institutions alike, and its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in the sphere of training, marketing, promotion and research, as well as to provide services for trade fairs through the activities of its Committees: the Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, the Administrative-Legal Committee, the Trade Fairs Network Committee, the IT and Technical Innovation Committee, and the new Initiatives and Programmes Committee.
On an international scale, AEFI represents Italian trade fairs in UFI – Union of International Fairs. Chaired by Ettore Riello, AEFI includes 34 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres. Most international trade fairs, and 85% of all trade fairs, which take place each year in Italy, are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.