How will the event industry change after the pandemic is over: results of the study have been published investigating the influence exercised by the spread of COVID-19 crisis on development of the Russian event industry

The Exhibition Scientific Research Center (VNITS) R&C, in cooperation with the Russian Convention Bureau, the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs and the Union of Exhibition Developers with the support of the Roscongress Fund, has conducted a marketing study into the impact of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus on development of the Russian event industry.

The study results have been obtained based on the analysis of the public domain information as well as an opinion survey of the leading companies’ representatives in the industry: organizers of exhibition, convention and other events as well as services providers. 245 companies took part in the survey which accounts for 12 percent of the total number of active market players.

Event industry, together with tourism, was the first to suffer from the impact of the pandemic. The companies in the event market found themselves in an environment of uncertainty due to having to cancel and to postpone the events. The study reviews several scenarios of the industry’s further development. If restrictions on holding events and other forms of social activity continue until May, then after they have been lifted, the companies are in for a low activity month. Besides, they are highly unlikely to achieve the pre-crisis levels. In the event of the restrictions being extended for a long period of time, the losses to be incurred by the industry may exceed RUB 110 bln while the number of jobs is to be cut by 50%.

Market experts project that in the event of any scenario, it would take at least six months for the industry to recover.

According to Alexey Kalachev, Director of the Russian Convention Bureau, the results of the study give quite a clear picture of situation in the convention and exhibition industry at the present time which makes it obvious that there is a critical need for support measures to be implemented with respect to the participants in the event market on the part of the government subject to all the factors of the industry’s significance, i.e. economic and social.