Global Experience Specialists’ 2016 Q1 Revenues Dip 8.1 Percent

May 6, 2016

Revenues for the Marketing & Events Division of Viad, which is Global Experience Specialists, dipped 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to $236.1 million, compared with $256.9 million during the same period in 2015.

“We saw lower year-over-year revenues during Q1 from corporate clients and short-term event bookings,” said Steve Moster, Viad’s president and CEO. “This was really due to a shift in timing, as we’re seeing stronger activity in the back half of 2016. “

Some of the decrease in revenues was a result of a few large shows that were in an off year, such as Promat in the U.S. and IDEX in the United Arab Emirates.

Even so, there was good news in that same-show revenues saw an increase of 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016.  

“Importantly, the industry overall continues to perform well with growth across the key metrics of square footage, exhibitors and attendees,” Moster said.

He added, “On top of that, we’ve been successful leveraging our full range of services to capture additional spend on our events.”

GES also recently scored a major contract overseas.

“GES secured a three-year contract from the Dubai World Trade Centre to be official service provider between 2016 and 2018,” Moster said.

He added, “GES will provide project management, graphics, feature design, furniture, flooring and a full range of exhibitor services to major industry events such as Gulfood, Dubai International Boat Show, Cabsat, World Art Dubai and GITEX.”

Also overseas, the company launched a registration and data analytics services in the United Arab Emirates during the first quarter and secured 17 projects in that market. 

“The team is hard at work developing additional functionality for the platform to support our planned registration and data analytics services launch in the U.S. later this year,” Moster said. “We’re excited to expand the services and capabilities that we are able to provide to our clients.”

The rest of the year will keep GES busy as well, with non-annual events the International Manufacturing Technology Show, MINExpo and the Farnborough Air Show all on the calendar.

As far as Marketing & Events Group revenues through 2016, show rotation is expected to have a net positive impact on full year revenue of $50 million versus 2015, according to GES officials.

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