London Book Fair 2022 saw 10,000 fewer attendees than pre-pandemic norm

The total number of exhibitors and visitors at this year’s London Book Fair (LBF) was approximately 10,000 down on typical pre-pandemic figures. 

According to the organisers, there were over 15,000 attendees, both visitors and exhibitors, from more than 100 countries at Olympia earlier this month.  

The LBF website states that the in-person event typically welcomes more than 25,000 publishing professionals to London for the week of the fair, suggesting a reduction of 10,000 people this year. 

The return to Olympia was widely welcomed by agents and publishers, with Hachette c.e.o. David Shelley saying it “felt like a pretty upbeat fair” and Emily Griffin, publishing director of Century Fiction, noting the “wonderful buzz” of the event. 

Bonnier Books UK c.e.o. Perminder Mann called it invigorating, despite her company’s decision not to exhibit this year and Lesley O’Mara, m.d. of Michael O’Mara, initially commented that the fair was “wonderfully busy”.

The continued spectre of Covid-19 loomed large, however, and some noticed a reduced international presence at the fair. Caroline Summers, c.e.o. of virtual wholesaler Paperback Shop, said the event was much quieter than pre-pandemic fairs. Griffin said: “Attendance wasn’t quite as high as usual, particularly with many North American agents and publishers choosing not to attend.”

After a spate of Covid cases following the event, LBF organisers were forced to defend their safety measures, saying: “The safety of attendees and exhibitors was paramount during the organisation of the London Book Fair and with thousands of publishing professionals coming to Olympia we were careful to put Covid safety measures in place to protect those present as much as possible. 

“Events like the London Book Fair are key to the publishing industry as we emerge from the pandemic and we worked hard to make the fair as safe an environment as possible as it returned in person this year.”

A spokesperson for distributor Eurospan told The Bookseller after the fair that while they had filled their diaries, the “ever-present C-word meant we had a number of cancellations and meetings to rearrange”.

They continued: “A majority of our contacts are US publishers so unfortunately many weren’t able to attend and Covid concerns sent several contacts home early.

“It seems the world wants to get back to normal but we’re still negotiating what that looks like. Print-on-demand, a return to in-person conferences and the long tail of Brexit interlaced all our meetings.”

Commenting on this year’s attendance, the organisers told The Bookseller: "After three challenging years apart, we were delighted to welcome 15,000 members of the global publishing community to Olympia for the in-person return of The London Book Fair. With senior publishers and industry leaders from more than 100 countries visiting the Fair to do business, share experiences and network, it was a joy to see LBF doing what it does best – powering the incredible work of publishing around the world."