New AMR offering tracks the state of the global events market

03 February 2021 Consultancy.uk

As 2021 unfolds, many global industries are hoping to recover their normal levels of trade – including the events sector. For organisers and investors who want to keep track of the latest developments and opportunities, consultancy AMR International has launched a new offering: the ‘Exhibition Recovery Tracker.’

Corporate exhibitions are a form of experiential marketing, which look to engage an active and highly motivated audience in a face-to-face environment. Those who attend exhibitions choose to be there, and want to connect with the products or services on show – making such showcases a particularly potent marketing tool.

As of 2019, there were approximately 32,000 exhibitions each year, featuring 4.5 million exhibiting companies and attracting over 303 million visitors. The events industry is heavily dependent on international travel, and physical attendance, however, and both factors meant it was one of the worst impacted sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic. With many of the world’s largest corporate exhibitions having been cancelled due to the coronavirus, a report by AMR International suggested that the global exhibition industry saw 70% of its value wiped out over the course of 2020.

New AMR offering tracks the state of the global events marketWhile the outlook remains far from normal, AMR has since updated its prognosis to predicting that the exhibitions market should rebound swiftly if the Covid-19 pandemic is finally brought under control in the following months. In 2022, the consultancy anticipates that 78% of the value lost in 2020 could have been recuperated – suggesting that the market may enjoy a rapid recovery, which investors and industry players alike will not want to miss out on.

In response to market demand for a service to keep users abreast of the fast-changing situation, AMR has announced the launch of a new offering. The exhibition recovery tracker for organisers and investors provides a monthly quantitative view of how face-to-face exhibition activity is recovering across 15 major exhibition markets, by comparing it to pre-Covid event activity.

Florent Jarry, Head of AMR’s Global Events Practice explained, “The recovery of face-to-face exhibitions in 2021 will vary considerably by country and organiser. We found speaking with organisers and investors there was a gap in how to pinpoint recovery movements within the exhibitions industry… Developed by AMR’s Globex team, the tracker will help ensure there is consistent monitoring and reliable data available. Therefore, enabling users to develop a forward-looking view on how, where and at what speed exhibitions will return.”

AMR International is a world-leading strategy consultancy specialising in the events and exhibitions industry, and has offices in London, New York, Paris and New Delhi – as well as on-the-ground experience in over 40 countries. The AMR Exhibition Recovery Tracker collates data from Brazil, China, France, Germany, Gulf Cooperation Council, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, the UK, and the US, before being transmitted via an online, interactive dashboard. The initiative is available on a 12-month subscription, and users are given the flexibility to toggle a vast range of data ‘cuts’, with the power to generate many different levels of analysis – all tailored to their specific needs.