Is the exhibition and event industry doomed?
In 2020, there was a survey reported that a lot of industry practitioners had experienced a 90% drop in their core business. It is estimated that due to the Covid-19 pandemic the whole exhibition and event industry has lost over HK$20 billion in business. Consequently, hundreds of thousands of professionals’ income have been impacted, certainly in a negative way.
When there is crisis there is opportunity
The China Import and Export Fair (a.k.a Canton Fair) is one of the most prominent exhibition events in Mainland China. In 2020, the organization hosted its first virtual event ever. In spite of the event’s virtual nature, the number of exhibitors didn’t have much impact as compared with previous years. On the contrary, virtual events have exerted a new breed of life under the difficult situation.
Upcoming opportunities
According to the Canton Fair statistic released in April this year, it had attracted over twenty-six thousands oversea exhibitors. It is foreseeable that virtual events, including virtual conferences and virtual exhibitions, can be applied to more industries and will be wildly embraced by various stakeholders. Experts mentioned that virtual events can be intertwined with virtual reality and other advanced technology which can further reduce the cost of physical exhibition events, which is one of the benefits of virtual events.
Conclusion
Our business environments are no longer the same after the intervention of the Covid-19 pandemic. Exhibition and event practitioners should keep up with the current technology and be the pioneer in the industry. Your potential customers could be just waiting for your ingenious idea.
