Exhibition Industry "Severe Damage from COVID-19... Urgent Government Support Needed"

Interpark Ticket Sales Analysis "March Exhibition Visitors Down 75% · Ticket Sales Amount Down 70%"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the number of art exhibition visitors in March dropped sharply to 51,569, a 75.3% decrease compared to March last year (209,137).

This result was confirmed through an analysis of Interpark art exhibition ticket sales conducted by the Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association (provisional name). The ticket sales amount in March was 486.77 million KRW, a 70.3% decrease compared to 1.64018 billion KRW in March last year.

On the 31st of last month, the Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association held a founding members' meeting at the 1101 Children's Lounge of the Seoul Arts Center to urgently assess the damage caused by the COVID-19 situation. Twenty-three people attended the meeting, including exhibition planning companies affiliated with the Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association and representatives from Interpark, the ticket sales agency.

The Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association stated that due to the COVID-19 situation, the income of member companies in the first quarter of this year has sharply declined, causing significant financial difficulties.

In particular, after the COVID-19 crisis alert was raised to the "serious" level on February 24, the scale of damage rapidly expanded in March. The Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association explained that the average monthly number of exhibition visitors from January to March over the past three years (January to February 2020) was 220,000, but it sharply dropped to around 50,000 in March. The number of exhibition visitors in February this year was 169,386, and ticket sales amounted to 1.35062 billion KRW.

The Korea Art Exhibition Planning Association noted that as a result of social distancing measures implemented due to COVID-19, movement has been restrained, leading to financial deterioration of planning companies, non-fulfillment of overseas contracts, and employment retention instability. They expressed serious concern that these difficulties are expected to continue in the future.

Furthermore, the association pointed out that the exhibition sector is excluded from government support policies related to the arts and requested an expansion of government support measures. As specific support measures, the association proposed reducing rental fees for national and public institutions, supporting rental fees for private complex cultural spaces, providing discount coupons for future exhibition visitors, and offering emergency operating funds.