J. G. Navarro
Research expert covering advertising and marketing with a focus on South America
Get in touch with us nowAs of early 2022, the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) in Shanghai, China, was the world's largest exhibition hall, with a gross hall capacity of over 404 thousand square meters. The Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Centre, also in China, followed with approximately 400 thousand square meters. The third- and fourth-placed spaces were in Germany: Messe Hannover and Messe Frankfurt had little more than 392 thousand and 372 thousand square meters, respectively.
With dozens of players across the globe, the trade fair business is a multimillion-dollar industry. But it remains far from pre-pandemic heights. The coronavirus outbreak turned 2020 into a defining year for this field. Online meetings and events became paramount, starting a new era where, even after COVID-19 subdued, many people did not necessarily feel the urge to attend an event in person. As a result, in 2022, very few trade fair organizers – three out of 18 – recorded revenues higher than three years earlier.
While the first years following the pandemic indicated a bleak scenario for the industry, most of its participants remained confident about their businesses' capabilities. According to a survey released in early 2023, approximately 45 percent of trade show marketing professionals in the United States felt hopeful about their field's effectiveness. Another 43 percent described their perception as optimistic.
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