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How many unique companies are exhibiting at trade shows globally per year?
Hello! Thanks for your question about the number of unique companies exhibiting at trade shows globally each year.
The short version is that there are around 4.4 million exhibitors or exhibiting companies at trade shows globally per year.
Below you will find the details of how I arrived at this answer.
METHODOLOGY
Using different keywords, I and my colleague looked for relevant articles, trade reports, market research reports, presentations, and studies. At first, we searched among recently published resources, i.e., those posted online from 2015 onwards. This search turned up limited information on the number of exhibiting companies, so we expanded our search to older sources.
I saw a presentation on global exhibition industry statistics by UFI (Union des Foires Internationales), "the association of the world’s leading tradeshow organisers and fairground owners, as well as the major national and international exhibition associations, and selected partners of the exhibition industry." The presentation provided global estimates on exhibitions such as the number of exhibitions, the total exhibition space rented, the number of exhibiting companies, and the number of visitors.
Though the presentation is fairly comprehensive, it was published in March 2014 and the global estimates were based on 2012 data. I therefore checked UFI's list of surveys and studies for other more recent reports. In the list, the only other report that has information on the number of exhibitors is the 2015 Euro Fair Statistics report, but the statistics are specific to Europe.
I searched for other associations similar to UFI and found The International Association of Exhibitions and Events or IAEE. Compared to UFI which represents 50,000 exhibition industry employees across 84 countries, the IAEE represents over 10,000 individuals in 52 countries. The IAEE has its page of downloadable resources too, but, unfortunately, none of the resources contain any information on the number of exhibiting companies. You may be interested to know that, among the resources, is a 2016 white paper on future trends impacting the exhibitions and events industry.
My colleague found a market research report on the global exhibitions market by AMR International, a strategy consultancy firm with expertise in events, industrials, and media, information, and technology (MIT). Entitled "Globex 2015: The Global Exhibitions Organising Market Assessment and Forecast to 2019," the report contains information such as market outlook, industry trends, and KPI data. The full report, which already has a 2016 release, is behind a paywall though. Nevertheless, my colleague found a 2014 article indicating AMR International's projection, in dollars, for the global exhibition market.
Please read on for the information on the number of exhibiting companies that I have gathered from all these resources.
NUMBER OF EXHIBITING COMPANIES
The most authoritative source I found for this topic is UFI's 2014 Global Exhibitions Industry Statistics presentation. Slide 15 of the presentation shows that, based on 2012 data, there were around 31,000 exhibitions which corresponded to a total net exhibition space rented of 124 million square meters. In these exhibitions, 4.4 million exhibiting companies welcomed 260 million visitors. Please note though that these estimates were based on "events with a minimum of 500 sqm held in 2012."
Since these estimates were based on 2012 data, I tried looking for ways to project the number for the current year. I have Euro Fair Statistics for years 2012 and 2015, so I checked how the number of exhibitors has changed between 2012 and 2015.
Slide 44 of the Global Exhibitions Industry Statistics presentation shows that, based on data collected from 2,769 exhibitions held in 2012 in 23 European countries, there were 795,211 exhibitors and 76.9 million visitors. On the other hand, Page 4 of the 2015 Euro Fair Statistics report shows that, based on data collected from 2,420 exhibitions in 23 European countries, there were 677,146 exhibitors and 67.3 million visitors. Between 2012 and 2015, the number of exhibitors has slightly decreased.
Since the number of exhibitors in European trade shows did not change much in the past five years, I assume the same can be observed globally. Approximately, there are 4.4 million exhibiting companies per year around the world.
DEFINITION OF EXHIBITOR IN UFI'S REPORT
Pages 8 to 11 of the 2015 Euro Fair Statistics report show how the different trade fair associations defined 'exhibitors'. It appears from majority of the definitions that exhibitors are categorized into direct/main exhibitors and indirect/co-exhibitors.
Direct or main exhibitors have their own stands with their own staff. On the other hand, indirect or co-exhibitors do not have their own stands but present their products or services with their own staff on direct or main exhibitors' stands. Represented companies or those whose products or services are exhibited without their own staff are excluded from the count.
Since the the count of exhibitors is taken from reports of registered exhibitors per event, uniqueness of exhibitors is guaranteed per exhibition only and not across all exhibitions or events.
GLOBAL EXHIBITION MARKET
In 2014, AMR International estimated that the global exhibition market was worth $28 billion in 2013. It projected as well that the market will grow at an annual rate of 5% until 2018. The top three markets then were identified to be the United States, Germany, and China. Other major markets mentioned were the United Kingdom and France.
Assuming that this rate is a compound annual growth rate, I estimate that the size of the market this year is around $34.03 billion.
CONCLUSION
In summary, there are around 4.4 million exhibiting companies at trade shows globally per year.
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