International Trade Fairs and Initial Impacts of COVID-19 on International Fairs

Abstract

In ITFs, participating companies introduce their products to potential buyers, perceive their reactions, communicate face-to-face with them, and closely observe their competitors. Moreover, there are other benefits of ITFs such as export and market share increase effect, problem-solving effect with the costumers, so it is one of the critical tasks of commercial diplomacy. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 affected the exhibition sector. So the number of fairs held in Dubai decreased dramatically compared to the previous years and also the number of participators and visitors in the fairs, including Turkish companies. Nevertheless, fair activities have adapted quickly and started to be organized in the virtual world. This study examined the literature and analyzed the Dubai exhibitions' statistics thoroughly both before and after COVID-19. The authors' goal is to find out if physical exhibitions maintain their importance despite technological developments.