Some 74% of those who participated in a study have underlined that virtual shows will be an important complementary to physical exhibitions but will not totally replace it. 

 

Only around 6% of the participants believed that virtual exhibitions would replace their physical counterparts. From the standpoint of 54% of those surveyed, virtual shows will pose a threat to the direct events in the medium and long terms, as per a recent study by the Expo Centre Sharjah on the reality of the global exhibitions sector and the future prospects amid the repercussions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Speaking on the study outcome, Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, the CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah, said: “These results expressly underline that direct events will remain in place. But they need to adapt to the new reality by harnessing digital services to enhance customer experience, organising more efficient and safer events.”

 

“The consensus that virtual exhibitions will not replace but complement physical ones reflects the sector flexibility and its ability to make use of the changes to scale up its performance,” Al Midfa added: “This analytical study is a step forward towards the recovery of exhibitions and conferences sector. And in order to come up with solutions, we first have to identify the challenges we face in the sector, so that all the concerned parties can team up to get through the crisis.”

 

He pointed out that work is underway to regain the confidence of everyone in the ability of exhibitions sector to recover quickly and to play its role in supporting all the components of the economy, noting that the study showed we will reap the fruits of the economic recovery starting from the second half of 2021 onwards.

 

“We should take into account that the study was conducted in a transitional stage, in which everything remains unclear. But after lifting travel restrictions, increasing awareness about safety and preventive measures, and using modern technologies, we could see the sector comeback to its previous growth levels by the year 2021,” Al Midfa concluded.

 

About 41.6% of the survey respondents felt the decrease in exhibitors’ budget came first among the challenges, travel restrictions came second (36.2%), virtual exhibitions (3.3%) and the need to focus on other marketing channels (6%).

 

Among the most important issues faced by exhibition organisers due to cancellation or postponement of events, travel difficulties came first (26.9%), lack of liquidity and revenue came second (19.4%), conflict of dates of the postponed and prescheduled exhibitions (14.9%), and increased costs (5.2%).

 

A part of the survey focused on actions taken by the companies operating in the exhibitions sector to counter the impact of Covid-19, where 65.2% of the companies mentioned that they shifted to virtual events such as workshops and webinars, 45.4% said they organised online exhibitions alongside digital workshops, 43.6% have created digital solutions to meet their customer’s needs, while 11.3% stated that no action has been taken yet.

 

With predictions ranging from most to more likely about the possibility of organising future events in the Middle East and North Africa, 56% of the participants have shown their optimism for Q4 of 2020 compared with Q3 by 18%.

 

In terms of business recovery after Covid-19, 50% of the participants from the Middle East and North Africa predicted that by 2022 the events will attract a turnout equal to what was witnessed in 2019, and 26% of them selected second half of 2021, while the first half of 2021 was chosen by 21%.

 

For the Covid-19-post revenue recovery, the participants went with the second half of 2021 and 2022 by 35% for each, while 21% went with the first half of 2021 for the economic and revenue recovery.

 

Around 79.3% of those surveyed were interested in virtual events, while 20.7% were uninterested. At the digital transformation level, 71% of them pointed out that they communicated with digital services providers to discuss the prospects for cooperation in the digital transformation of their businesses.

 

About the benchmarks which are equal in both virtual and physical exhibitions, the participants chose market knowledge (56.8%), participation in conferences and seminars (53.2%), product display solutions (39.2%), and the lookout for new customers and suppliers (29.4%).

 

The study was conducted in cooperation with GRS Research and Strategy, Italian strategic research and consulting firm focused on research, analysis, and strategy for the exhibition and large event industry. GRS is also a partner of “Explori”, and, along with it, holds the biggest data-set of event performance in the world. 

 

As many as 500 participants from 50 countries from around the world took part in the survey, including exhibition organisers, exhibitors, and suppliers, where they highlighted the major challenges they face in the current circumstances.-- Tradearabia News Service