DALLAS — The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released its Q3 2024 Index results — a measure of overall exhibition performance — which signify growth in the U.S. B2B events industry.
“Q3 Index results document the continued recovery of the industry, with exhibitors and exhibit space leading the charge,” Nancy Drapeau, IPC, Vice President of Research at CEIR, said. “However, attendance is lagging and needs to be monitored. According to Oxford, high travel costs are likely causing organizations to send fewer staff. Hopefully, as costs decrease, more staff will be sent.”
Key Statistics
- The Q3 2024 CEIR Total Index value is 88.8, 1.1 points higher than Q2 2024.
- This rate is 11.2% below the same period in 2019, marking an improvement over the 14.6% shortfall in Q3 2023.
- The Index’s four components are Net Square Feet (NSF), Exhibitors, Attendees and Real Revenues. NSF improved the most in Q3 2024 and was 2.7% behind Q3 2019. Exhibitors was 7.0% behind Q3 2019, Real Revenues was 16.3% behind and Attendees was 17.8% behind.
- Among all events in the Index’s sample, 33.8% have surpassed their pre-pandemic CEIR Total Index performance. This is a significant increase from Q3 2023, when only 25.9% of events surpassed 2019’s results.
- The cancellation rate for in-person events was 0.3%, which is lower than Q3 2023’s 1.6%.
Nancy Drapeau, IPC, Vice President of Research at CEIR
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According to CEIR, the index’s results align with the U.S.’ economic performance — Annualized GDP rose 2.8%, the Personal Consumption Expenditures deflater showed a 2.3% year-over-year increase and Real Disposable Income increased 1.6% at an annualized rate in the quarter — though high interest rates remain a risk.
CEIR posits that the U.S. is set to outperform other advanced economies in 2025 and its Q3 2024 Index Results report explores how the incoming Trump Administration’s increased tariffs and decreased immigration could impact the economy — though CEIR believes that these effects will likely not be felt until late 2025 or 2026.
“With the upcoming change in January to a Trump Administration planning to use trade tariffs as a bargaining chip for trade negotiations, this approach may impact international participation at U.S. trade shows,” Drapeau explained. “CEIR 2025 research will monitor these trends, also aiming to understand not just attendance volume but also whether attendance quality has been retained or improved in 2024, and the outlook moving forward.”
CEIR asserts that the fundamentals favor solid growth and cite past increases in manufacturing structures investment, fiscal policy, ongoing AI investment, easing lending standards and strong economic incentives as reasons to be optimistic.
Find CEIR’s full Q3 2024 report here.
