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The lock-down and ban on trade fairs organisation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was enforced from mid-March 2020. This business- halt resulted in a crisis in the trade fairs industry.  The June meetings industry’s reopening has not changed the problematic situation of this sector so far. The autumn events which have been scheduled are not a promise of a recovery form a drastic economic slowdown.  The heads of the largest exhibition companies discussed the threats and potential actions.  - We have resolved to speak with one voice on issues related to the whole industry. Together we want to fight for the future of the trade fairs, the most effective marketing tool  - says Andrzej Mochoń, the initiator of the meeting - Trade fairs getting back on track offer the opportunity not only for us, expo organisers, but above all for those who use the trade show for the purpose expos have been designed, i.e. hundreds of thousands of companies from various business and economy sectors on all continents. Matchmaking in business is our task. In the times of a pandemic, we enable business entities to return to the market, and we help them find their place in the new business reality.

We decided to act together not only on behalf of over half a million employees of the Polish exhibition industry - emphasises Tomasz Kobierski, president of the board of the Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry and president of the management board of MTP Grupa which comprises MTP Poznań International Fair.  - We are convinced that trade fairs and events can be of real help to Poland’s entire economy in times of economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Companies in Poland and Europe prosper for new business contacts, they need new supply and distribution chains, they can also compete for new markets. We can help with that. The only thing we need to do is act together yet assisted and understood by the state and economic institutions.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the losses of the exhibition industry were estimated by the Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry at the level of PLN 150 million per month. Not it is about 800 million. PLN.  Last year, the state budget revenues from taxes paid by the trade fair organisers amounted to c.a. PLN 500 million.  The meetings industry employed of 500,000 people. The exhibition market value in 2019 was estimated at PLN 3-4 billion.

Not only are trade fair the event and business meeting as such -they bring benefits for participating companies. Exhibitions stimulate the state’s economy as well as the economy of the regions where expo centres are located. Trade fair means a multitude of companies that generate income.  These are hotels, restaurants, companies dealing with expo stand development, advertising companies, printing houses, and even florists or other SME offered services.  For example, according to the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry - AUMA, exhibition organiser’s turnover in a given city generates up to seven times higher turnover of the local expo-related industry. Without the government’s, banks’ and leasing companies’ support, business activities of several thousand enterprises may wean.