2025 is absolutely flying by. We’re now in September, the busiest month of the exhibition industry, and so, we thought it was the perfect time to evaluate the exhibition stats. Despite economic challenges and the continued push for digital, the exhibition sector remains resilient, demonstrating promising signs of sustained growth and development.
We hope these statistics offer insight into the industry’s development and some of the implications for businesses, visitors, organisers and exhibition stand contractors.
Scale, Dynamics, Growth
According to the 2024 UK Events report, the events industry contributed £61.65 billion to the UK economy in 2023.
From a budget perspective, events continue to be the best-performing form of marketing, showing quarterly expansion in the last IPA Bellwether report and a strong appetite for in-person activations!
1145 exhibitions and conferences were held at the UK’s main exhibition venues – a 4% increase compared to 2023 and the highest since 2017.
Events are resettling post-COVID. In 2024, 64% of exhibitions took place annually, which was the same as the previous year.
The gross exhibition area for 2024 is 4,700 m², indicating a preference for small-to-medium-scale events.
Over half of the UK’s exhibitions took place across 4 months: March, September, October, and November.
On average, trade shows welcomed 153 exhibitors per business event and 136 per consumer event.
The average exhibition occupied a venue for 4.6 days and was open for 2.1 days!
Value, Planning & Organisation
78% of businesses identify in-person events as their organisation’s most impactful marketing channel.
- Approximately 72% of exhibitors attend trade shows to gain new leads.
- 92% of trade show visitors attend to view new products.
- 64% of exhibitors believe the quality of attendees is the most important factor when deciding to participate in a trade show.
- 61% of businesses use social media to advertise their participation in an upcoming trade show.
- 72% of businesses are concerned about charges for floorspace and utilities.
- 53% of exhibitors prefer small regional shows over large national ones.
- When exhibiting, 92% of businesses plan to be more sustainable.
Percentage of Exhibitions by Sector
In 2024, the leisure sector was the largest (18.7%), representing a fifth of the total exhibitions. This was closely followed by the Medicine sector, which made up 13.3%.
Looking Forwards
Recent statistics indicate encouraging trends for the UK’s event sector! It has been great to see continued growth in the industry, businesses opting for sustainable stands, and increased budgets for in-person marketing. We hope for these trends to continue throughout 2026.
Ready to exhibit? Get in touch with our expert design consultants! Email design@quadrant2design.com or call us on 01202 723 500 for a free, no-obligation design proposal. For more information on Quadrant2Design, please take a look at our credentials.
