The Top 20 Exhibition Organizers by 2021 Exhibition-Organizing Revenue

The Top 20 Exhibition Organizers by 2021 Exhibition-Organizing Revenue

Florent Jarry • September 1, 2022
Florent Jarry • September 1, 2022

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AMR International (acquired by Stax in 2022) has released its annual “Top 20 Exhibition Organisers”: the global ranking based exclusively on exhibition-organising revenues. The latest ranking takes into account 2021 revenues.


There has been no change among the top three from last year: Informa Markets remains number one, followed by RX and CFTC.


IFEMA Madrid and Shanghai-listed DLG Exhibitions debut in the AMR Top 20, while Easyfairs rejoins. Meanwhile, Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), dmg events and Messe Nuremberg drop out.


In alphabetical order, the five next largest organisers outside the AMR Top 20 this year are the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), dmg events, HKTDC, IEG and Messe Nuremberg.


Florent Jarry, Managing Director at Stax, says, “2021 was again an exceptional year due to the continuing disruption of COVID-19. As a result, organisers with strong portfolios in countries with earlier recovery such as China performed relatively better than others. This has led to the ranking being substantially different from pre-COVID years. This year’s AMR Top 20 is a snapshot and not representative of longer-term market positions.”


He adds, “We can expect to see further changes next year as most organisers return closer to their pre-COVID portfolio structure.”

Top 20 exhibition organizers by 2021 exhibition-organising revenue

The AMR Top 20 (2021 and 2019 comparison)

The additional chart below offers a comparison between exhibition organisers’ revenue in 2019 and 2021.


Compared to the 2019 pre-COVID landscape, there have been significant shifts in the AMR Top 20. Apart from CFTC which benefitted from China’s strong recovery in 2021, all other organisers suffered a more than 30% decline compared to their 2019 revenues.


In terms of ranking, the biggest climbers are CFTC, GL events, MCH Group and Tarsus. On the other hand, dmg events and HKTDC have fallen out of the AMR Top 20.


AMR’s upcoming Globex 2022 report will look at individual organisers’ response and resilience to COVID in more detail. An ‘early bird’ discount for Globex 2022 will be announced in the coming weeks, with the official release date, Monday 31 October.


The Top 20 Exhibition Organizers (2021 and 2019 comparison)

About the Top 20 ranking

The Top 20 enables exhibition organisers to see how they rank in the global events market. It also helps organisers to track any shifts in market share, particularly ahead of the financial reporting cycle.


In addition, the ranking presents a pure view of organising, the dynamic and highly profitable part of the industry, by isolating exhibition organiser revenues from venue rental and service revenues. Organisers are ranked on the latest fully reported year combined with pro-forma revenues of acquisitions.


AMR International also provides more in-depth analysis on the global exhibitions industry in its annual Globex report: the exhibition industry’s definitive dataset and forecast.


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