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CEIR Report: Tradeshow Industry Shows Consistent Growth Trend

Ahead of its annual report on the exhibition industry, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research reported this week that the industry saw growth for the 18th straight quarter, with most aspects of the sector showing solid year-over-year improvement.

Four and a half years in a row of growth is the type of success any industry would love to have—and the tradeshow industry can claim it as its own.

On Wednesday, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced the business-to-business exhibition industry’s fourth-quarter results, which revealed that, for the 18th straight quarter, the industry made gains. For the most recent quarter, the industry saw a 1.7 percent increase.

“Slowly but surely, the exhibition industry is gaining strength,” CEIR President & CEO Brian Casey, CEM, said in a news release.

For the most part, the industry’s continued growth, based on CEIR’s index, has largely followed the rise in gross domestic product over the period—although at a slightly lower rate.

The results are generally positive, and as CEIR economist Allen Shaw, Ph.D., noted in the media announcement, the year-over-year increase was also solid, if slightly off projections.

“With the fourth quarter’s results and 18 consecutive quarters of growth, and our predictions closely matching outcomes, we are confident in the continued growth and progress of the industry,” said Shaw, who is also the chief economist for Global Economic Consulting Associates. “Additionally, in line with our expectations, as published in the 2014 CEIR Index Report, the total index increased by a moderate 1.8 percent for 2014 for the year as a whole, just slightly below the 2.0 percent forecast growth.”

The report notes that all the measured metrics in the exhibition space made gains, though one area in which the industry is struggling is the number of exhibitors, up just 0.2 percent year over year.

CEIR expects to share more details about 2014’s growth in its forthcoming “CEIR Index, an Analysis of the 2014 Exhibition Industry and Future Outlook” report, which is due to be released next month and will cover each of the 14 sectors of the industry.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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