Exhibition Industry Research Center: US B2B exhibition attendance rate drops to 87.7% in Q2 2024

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) announced that the U.S. B2B exhibition industry experienced a slight slowdown after strong growth in the first quarter of 2024. After reaching a record high of 92.3 in the first quarter of 2024, the index in the second quarter of 2024 was mediocre, especially in terms of exhibition attendance. The CEIR Total Index, which measures the overall performance of exhibitions, fell 2.3 percentage points compared to the second quarter of 2023.

Performance was down 12.3% from the same period in 2019 and slightly down compared to last year, including a 10.0% decline in the second quarter of 2022. The total CEIR index fell 5 percentage points in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024.

US Economy: Towards a Soft Landing

The CEIR index results are consistent with the overall economic performance, showing a slowdown but no signs of recession. Consumer confidence indicators are generally weaker and business confidence is volatile as current events have fueled unwarranted pessimism about the economy.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in July from 3.5% last year, but remains at a historically low level. The increase was driven primarily by an increase in the labor force participation rate, which will reduce pressure on wages (and inflation) going forward.

As expected, GDP growth accelerates to 2.8% in the second quarter of 2024, which bodes well for the economy and improves the outlook for the CEIR index in the second half of the year.

Consumer spending increased at a solid pace in June. This is expected to continue through the rest of the year as real income growth rises despite some increase in unemployment on the back of strong household balance sheets. June's strong underlying retail sales suggest that real consumer spending increased at an annual rate of nearly 2.0 percent in the second quarter. Although sales at gas stations fell as gasoline prices fell and a widespread cyberattack on auto dealerships hurt auto sales, spending in nearly every other category rose strongly during the month.

Despite the number of airport checkpoints exceeding pre-pandemic levels, hotel demand has stabilized and is about 2% below pre-pandemic levels. Strong growth in international travel by U.S. residents is a key reason why hotel demand has not recovered as much as air travel. More Americans are traveling abroad than ever before, but international tourist numbers have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, resulting in a net loss of about 3% in U.S. hotel demand.