In contrast to leisure tourism, which reportedly is a little sluggish, the Australian exhibitions sector is delivering strong attendance numbers growth this year.
For the first few months of 2009, many exhibitions report growth in visitor numbers and strong sales from exhibiting companies – results that have far outstripped organiser predictions of a slump in attendance due to current economic instability.
“Research tells us exhibitions perform highly during a recession and our experience so far this year is that as a marketing channel, exhibitions are very robust,†said Matthew Pearce, president, Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA).
“Exhibitions offer a cost-effective – and measurable – way for sales teams to get their new product offerings in front of their customers and write business at the same time.