The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released second quarter data collected from the annual CEIR Index report during the CEIR Predict Conference in Chicago Sept. 11.
Marking a modest growth, the results showed a year-on-year gain of 1 percent. All four metrics posted year-on-year gains with the strongest performance in Real Revenues, which rose 1.4 percent.
The growth of the exhibition industry lagged behind GDP during the second quarter of 2014, a reversal of the previous two quarters.
“Overall, the second quarter results show a meager gain of 1.0 percent,” said CEIR’s Chief Economist for Global Economic Consulting Associations Allen Shaw, Ph.D. “The underlying reasons for performance can be attributed to weak exhibition performance in the construction, business, education and non-profit exhibitions sectors.”
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The sectors leading in performance to-date in 2014 are:
• Food, +6.2 percent
• Discretional Goods and Services, +5.4 percent
• Communications and Information Technology, +4.3 percent
Conversely, the Education and Non-profit (ED) sector declined by 3.5 percent, which is attributed to retrenchment of state and local government expenditures. The Raw Materials and Science (RM) sector declined by 0.6 percent, even though fundamentals remained sound during the same period.
As an objective measure of the annual performance of the exhibition industry, the CEIR Index measures year-over-year changes in four key metrics to determine overall performance: Net Square Feet of Exhibit Space Sold; Professional Attendance; Number of Exhibiting Companies; and Gross Revenue.
The CEIR Index provides exhibition industry performance across 14 key industry sectors: Business Services; Consumer Goods; Discretionary Consumer Services; Education; Food; Financial, Legal and Real Estate; Government; Building, Construction, Home and Repair; Industrial/Heavy Machinery and Finished Business Inputs; Communications and Information Technology; Medical and Health Care; Raw Materials and Science; Sporting Goods, Travel and Entertainment; and Transportation.
For more information about the CEIR Index, an Analysis of the 2013 Exhibition Industry and Future Outlook report or Predict – CEIR’s Annual Exhibition Industry Outlook Conference, contact CEIR Managing Director Cathy Breden, CAE, CMP at cbreden@ceir.org.
