UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has released the latest 35th edition of its flagship Global Exhibition Barometer report, which captures the current status and outlook of the exhibition industry worldwide.
The results indicate expected growth of activity in different markets for 2025, following a year 2024 where operating profits were stable for a majority of companies: on average globally, 34% of respondents anticipate an increase of more than 5% of the space rented in their country, and 36% expect this for their company. Most businesses expected to increase by more than 5% in Brazil, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But this does not apply to the three largest markets, where most respondents anticipate either stability (in US and Germany) or decrease (China).
In parallel, increases by more than 5% of other revenues channels are expected by 39% for services, and 26% for sponsoring opportunities.
“Global economic developments”, “Geopolitical challenges” and “State of the economy in the home market” are listed by businesses as the top issues for both short and mid-terms, preceding “Sustainability / Climate” (12% of global answers for mid-term), “Competition from within the exhibition industry” (12%), “Impact of digitalisation”, “Competition with other media” and “Internal management challenges” (all 8%) and “Regulatory / Stakeholders issues” (7%).
Still, development is underway at different levels: eight companies out of 10 plan new activities either in the classic range of exhibition industry activities, outside of the current product portfolios, or in both areas, more than six companies out of 10 declare using AI tools on a regular basis, and four companies out of 10 plan to recruit in the coming six months.
Rented space at country level
Globally, 34% of respondents expect an increase in activity of more than 5% in their country, while 48% believe it will remain stable (+/-5%). This leaves only 12% expecting a decrease of more than 5%, and 6% are uncertain. However, detailed results highlight significant differences in most regions:
- In North America, around six respondents out of 10 forecast an increase of more than 5% in Mexico, while the same proportion foresees a stable situation (+/- 5%) in the US.
- In Central and South America, around seven respondents out of 10 forecast an increase of more than 5% in Brazil, while five out of 10 in Argentina and six out of 10 in Colombia foresee a stable situation.
- In Asia/Pacific, the contrast is even wider. Out of the five markets detailed in the report, there are two where a majority of respondents foresee an increase of activity of more than 5%: India and Malaysia (for respectively seven and six companies out of 10); one with a stable status forecast (Australia, four participants out of 10) and two where the majority of respondents plan a decrease of more than 5%: China (55%) and Thailand (40%).
Revenues
Global results indicate that most companies foresee:
- An increase of more than 5% of their revenues in 2025 compared to 2024 for “Renting space” (36% of respondents) and “Selling services” (39%).
- A stable evolution (of +/- 5%) for “Selling sponsoring opportunities” (32% of respondents, while 27% of respondents mention that this revenue stream is not relevant for their company).
- 54% of respondents do not consider “receiving subsidies” relevant to their company. When it is, most anticipate a stable evolution (+/- 5%) of this revenue stream.
Similarly to the previous question related to country revenue forecast, country results to this question indicate significant differences. Countries where most companies anticipate an increase of more than 5% of their 2025 revenues compared to 2024 are: Saudi Arabia (80%), the UAE (67%), India (62%), Mexico (61%), Argentina (58%) and Colombia (55%) for “Renting space”; Saudi Arabia (70%), the UAE (67%), India (62%), Malaysia (60%), Argentina (58%), Brazil (57%) and Colombia (54%) for “Selling services”.
The results by type of activity highlight different forecasts by revenue stream:
- For “Renting space”, most organisers (49%) anticipate an increase of more than 5% while most venues or “venues and organisers” anticipate a stable trend (51% for both).
- For “Selling services”, most service providers/suppliers (42%) anticipate an increase of more than 5% while most organisers, venues or “venues and organisers” anticipate a stable trend (42%, 44%, 38% respectively).
- For “Selling sponsoring opportunities”, most organisers and “organisers and venues” anticipate a stable trend (respectively 39% and 48%), while this revenue channel is “not relevant” for most venues and service providers/suppliers (respectively 55% and 73% of respondents).
Operating profit
For 2024, 40% of the companies report an annual increase of more than 10%, and 51% declare a stable result (between -10% and +10%). For 2025, 30% of the companies report an annual increase of more than 10%, and 53% report a stable profit.
Country results show significant differences, and the 5 top markets with the highest proportions of respondents reporting an increase in their operating profit by more than 10% are: Mexico (63%), Germany (61%), the UK (53%), the UAE and India (both 50%) for 2024; and India (64%), the UAE (58%), Brazil (43%), Colombia (42%), and Malaysia (40%) for 2025.
Results by type of activity do not show significant differences, and a majority of respondents from all segments anticipate stable profits (between -10% and +10%) for both 2024 and 2025: 50% of organisers, 48% of “venues & organisers”, 53% of venues and 53% of service providers/suppliers for 2024; 53% of organisers, 56% of “venues & organisers”, 63% of venues and 47% of service providers/suppliers for 2025.
Workforce development
Globally, 40% of companies declare that they plan to increase their staff numbers, while another 56% declare that they will keep current staff numbers stable. The highest proportion of companies planning to add staff is identified in Saudi Arabia (80%), Malaysia (70%), Spain (62%), the UAE (58%), and India (57%).
At segment level, on average, organisers and service providers/suppliers are more likely to recruit than venues: 43% of both organisers and service providers/suppliers plan to add additional staff, while 54% of organisers and 48% of service providers/suppliers will keep current staff numbers stable; 17% of venues plan to add additional staff and 83% to keep current staff numbers stable.
Most important business issues
For the short term:
- The most pressing business issue remains “State of the economy in home market” (19% of answers globally, against 23% six months ago), and it is the main issue in all regions, except the Middle East and Africa, where it ranks second.
- “Geopolitical challenges” (16% of answers, same as six months ago, and the top issue with 18% of answers for the Middle East and Africa) and “Global economic developments” (15%, same as six months ago) come in as the second and third most important issues globally.
- “Internal management challenges” (13%), “Competition from within the exhibition industry” (10%), followed by “Impact of digitalisation”, “Regulatory / Stakeholders issues” (respectively 9% and 7%, both +2% compared to six months ago), “Competition with other media” and “Sustainability / Climate” (both 6%) follow.
Current strategic priorities
In all regions, a large majority of companies intend to develop new activities, either in the classic range of exhibition industry activities (venue/organiser/services), outside of the current product portfolios, or in both areas: 78% in Europe, 79% for both Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa, 83% in Central and South America, and 84% in North America.
The analysis by industry segment (organiser, venue and service provider/supplier) shows that:
- Organisers are the ones who primarily plan to develop their activities in line with their current product portfolio (40% of their answers) or consider both developments, also including new activities outside their current product portfolio (22%).
- Service providers are the ones who primarily plan to develop new activities outside their current product portfolio (36%).
In terms of geographic expansion, half of companies report an intention to develop operations in new countries and regions. Half of organisers (51%) report this, while it is higher for service providers/suppliers (62%) and lower for venues (19%).
At the country level, international development is on the agenda of a majority of companies in 10 of the 19 markets analysed: Germany (87%), Colombia (73%), South Africa (71%), the UAE (70%), Saudi Arabia (63%), France (56%), Italy (54%), the UK (53%), China (53%) and Mexico (51%).
Generative AI applications
Globally, 63% of companies indicate that they currently use standard AI tools (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or similar) in at least some of their business functions. In addition, 17% have AI-powered tools integrated into their existing systems, and 3% have already developed proprietary algorithms trained on internal data. In parallel, 17% of respondents declare having no or almost no use of AI at this stage.
The five countries with the highest proportion of respondents who reached either of the last two levels of advancement (implemented their own algorithms trained with company data or AI-powered tools integrated into their platforms) are Thailand (44%), the UK (39%), the UAE (38%), the USA (33%) and Saudi Arabia (30%).
At segment level, on average, organisers appear more advanced than service providers or venues: 12% of organisers, 21% of service providers/suppliers and 34% of venues declare a low or non-existent level of implementation; 24% of organisers, 19% of service providers/suppliers and 17% of venues declare already reaching either implementation of their own algorithms trained with company data or AI-powered tools integrated into their platforms.
In terms of their level of maturity, most companies are still researching or testing solutions in the 3 domains surveyed: 72% towards “improving company and process efficiency”; 68% towards “improving customer experience”; 54% towards “generating revenues using AI-powered products”.
The five countries with the highest rates of companies declaring either testing or implementing AI solutions are: Thailand (88%), Germany (74%), Malaysia (70%), Brazil (64%) and France (64%) for “improving company and process efficiency”; China (68%), Argentina (64%), Thailand (63%), the UAE (61%) and France (58%) for “improving customer experience”; Colombia (45%), the UAE (39%), Thailand (38%), China (37%) and France (36%) for “generating revenues using AI-powered products”.
At segment level, the proportion of companies declaring either testing or implementing AI solutions is: 61% for service providers/suppliers, 56% for organisers, and 30% for venues towards “improving company and process efficiency”; 58% for organisers, 37% for service providers/suppliers and 21% for venues towards “improving customer experience”; 28% for organisers, 19% for service providers/suppliers and 0% for venues towards “generating revenues using AI-powered products”.
The 35th Global Exhibition Barometer report, concluded in July 2025, provides insights from 386 companies across 58 countries and regions.
The next UFI Global Exhibition Barometer survey will be conducted in December 2025.
