Exhibition Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2035

This report describes and explains the Exhibition market and covers 2020-2025, termed the historic period, and 2025-2030, 2035F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global exhibition market reached a value of nearly $70.63 billion in 2025, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% since 2020. The market is expected to grow from $70.63 billion in 2025 to $98.97 billion in 2030 at a rate of 7%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% from 2030 and reach $134.23 billion in 2035.

Growth in the historic period resulted from government support for MICE tourism, growth of business-to-business marketing activities, rising demand for face-to-face networking and expansion of industry-specific trade shows. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were economic uncertainty affecting participation and travel and logistics challenges.

Going forward, growth in globalization of businesses, growth in small and medium enterprises participation, rise in demand for experiential marketing and cultural tourism growth will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the exhibition market in the future include high cost of organizing exhibition, competition from digital marketing and virtual events and impact of trade war and tariffs.

The exhibition market is segmented by exhibition type into traditional exhibition, virtual exhibition and hybrid exhibition. The traditional exhibition market was the largest segment of the exhibition market segmented by exhibition type, accounting for 63.4% or $44.78 billion of the total in 2025. Going forward, the hybrid exhibition segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the exhibition market segmented by exhibition type, at a CAGR of 13.9% during 2025-2030.

The exhibition market is segmented by revenue stream into exhibitor fee, sponsorship fee, entrance fee and services. The exhibitor fee market was the largest segment of the exhibition market segmented by revenue stream, accounting for 47.2% or $33.34 billion of the total in 2025. Going forward, the services segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the exhibition market segmented by revenue stream, at a CAGR of 10.3% during 2025-2030.

The exhibition market is segmented by enterprise size into large enterprise and small and midsize enterprise (SME). The large enterprise market was the largest segment of the exhibition market segmented by enterprise size, accounting for 67.2% or $47.45 billion of the total in 2025. Going forward, the small and midsize enterprise (SME) segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the exhibition market segmented by enterprise size, at a CAGR of 8.6%.

The exhibition market is segmented by industry into consumer goods and retail sector, hospitality sector, ART fuel forum (AFF) and energy sector, automotive and transportation sector, industrial sector, entertainment sector and other industries. The consumer goods and retail sector market was the largest segment of the exhibition market segmented by industry, accounting for 28.6% or $20.2 billion of the total in 2025. Going forward, the ART fuel forum (AFF) and energy sector segment is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in the exhibition market segmented by industry, at a CAGR of 11.2% during 2025-2030.

North America was the largest region in the exhibition market, accounting for 33.1% or $23.38 billion of the total in 2025. It was followed by Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the exhibition market will be Asia-Pacific and Middle East where growth will be at CAGRs of 8.6% and 7.3% respectively. These will be followed by Western Europe and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 6.7% and 6.6% respectively.

The global exhibition market is fragmented, with a large number of small players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 6.74% of the total market in 2024. Informa Plc (Informa Markets) was the largest competitor with a 1.43% share of the market, followed by RX (Reed exhibition) with 1.04%, Messe Frankfurt with 0.88%, Clarion Events Ltd. with 0.70%, Messe Munchen with 0.64%, Messe Dusseldorf GmbH with 0.60%, Hyve Group Ltd. (formerly ITE Group) with 0.48%, IFEMA Madrid with 0.34%, Emerald Expositions Inc. with 0.32% and NurnbergMesse with 0.29%.

The top opportunities in the exhibition market segmented by exhibition type will arise in the hybrid exhibition segment, which will gain $15.25 billion of global annual sales by 2030. The top opportunities in the exhibition market segmented by revenue stream will arise in the sponsorship fee segment, which will gain $9.52 billion of global annual sales by 2030. The top opportunities in the exhibition market segmented by enterprise size will arise in the large enterprise segment, which will gain $16.56 billion of global annual sales by 2030. The top opportunities in the exhibition market segmented by industry will arise in the ART fuel forum (AFF) and energy sector segment, which will gain $6.5 billion of global annual sales by 2030. The exhibition market size will gain the most in China at $4.74 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the exhibition market include focus on partnering with technology and production specialists to deliver modular booth systems and scalable stand construction solutions, focus on launching and partnering to integrate advanced business matchmaking and lead qualification tools directly into exhibition platforms, focus on partnering with integrated event platform providers to implement unified registration, ticketing, matchmaking and attendee analytics systems, focus on enhancing experience-driven physical events by incorporating dedicated live demonstration zones and interactive product showcases and focus on rapidly adopting fully digital exhibition platforms that feature interactive virtual booths, embedded online networking tools and analytics capabilities.

Player-adopted strategies in the exhibition market include focus on strengthening its operational capabilities through strategic acquisition and focus on strengthening its operational capabilities through partnership.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the exhibition companies to focus on modular booth design and scalable smart infrastructure, focus on data-driven matchmaking and lead generation platforms, focus on unified event platforms with advanced analytics capabilities, focus on hybrid and experience-driven exhibition formats, focus on hybrid exhibition to capture rapid market growth, focus on sponsorship fees to capture accelerated revenue growth, focus on small and midsize enterprises to capture faster growing segment, focus on hospitality and entertainment sectors to capture fastest growing markets, focus on multi-channel and global distribution expansion, focus on flexible and value-based pricing models, focus on data-driven digital promotion and audience targeting, focus on strategic partnerships and brand positioning for market visibility, focus on industry-specific expertise and client engagement teams.

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