Last Updated: 21 may 2025,
According to UFI, 4.7m. exhibiting companies welcomed 318m. visitors in 2024. 368 billion euros of economic impacts on hosting territories, supporting 4.3 million jobs.
PARIS – UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released the new research data covering the year 2024 alongside other existing data for the first time which unveils some new trends since 2019.
The UFI Global Exhibition Industry Statistics report estimates that 32,000 exhibitions were held worldwide in 2024, a similar number to pre-pandemic. Their activity, measured by the space rented by exhibiting companies, is close to the level of 2019: 138 million sqm against 143.7 million sqm, showing a slight decrease of -0.8% per year on average. Additional research from the “Global Exhibitors and Visitors Insights / Net Promoter Score” report produced by Explori shows that satisfaction from participants has improved post-pandemic, between +10 and +31 points for visitors, and +20 and + 29 points for exhibiting companies, depending on the region of the world.
The new Global Economic Impact of Exhibitions (2024) report, produced by UFI and Oxford Economics, evaluates the direct output generated by the production of exhibitions and other exhibitors and visitors’ spending at 150 ($162) billion euros. This first level of impact, which includes inflation, benefits not just the exhibition industry, but all related sectors, such as accommodation, restaurants and transport, and it has increased by 3.8% per year on average since 2019. Adding on the indirect and induced impacts generated in the economy, the total global economic impact of exhibitions on hosting territories reaches 368 ($398) billion euros in total output and 215 ($233) billion euros in total GDP, corresponding to 4.3 million full-time equivalent jobs.
“These reports demonstrate the resilience and recovery of our industry and whilst the numbers and size of individual exhibitions may have changed, from a global perspective we can see customer satisfaction has increased, and the economic significance of our industry remains hugely important to our industry, our host cities and the markets we serve” says Chris Skeith OBE, UFI Managing Director and CEO.
