Drop in air travel, live events to spur decline in EWC detection market
According to a new report from market research firm Omdia, the Explosives, Weapons and Contraband (EWC) Detection market is expected to decline by 9.5% in 2020, due largely to the worldwide drop in air travel and live events brought about by the pandemic. In fact, airports, which are the primary consumers of EWC equipment, and event venues are expected to see revenue declines between 13% and 42% this year following the global spread of COVID-19.
Omdia said it expects that governments will continue to work towards completing security equipment upgrade plans despite the significant economic challenges caused by the pandemic. However, there will be significant delays in implementing larger tenders for new equipment as many government offices have been partially closed, and real-life demonstrations of equipment use were not able to be scheduled throughout 2020.
Smaller and regional airports may also opt to focus on servicing of existing equipment, delaying the purchase of more or new x-ray screening machines until normal operations resume.
The events industry will be slower to recover according to Omdia, which forecasts that there will be a slower demand for EWC equipment in the events sector of the EWC market in 2021
“While the pandemic has slowed down the growth in the EWC market revenues, the industry’s work on new solutions focused on leveraging the full capabilities of artificial intelligence, a wide range of terahertz-spectrum wave technology applications and new technologies for trace detection has continued,” Anna Sliwon-Stewart, Senior Analyst & Research Manager, Security and Building Technologies at Omdia, said in a statement. “The threat environment continues to evolve while the pandemic has elevated the concept of biological threat detection to a higher level in the spectrum of issues of concern in the public safety and security concept. This is likely to become the next issue of focus for the EWC equipment manufacturers, as well as stakeholders in the government and scientific community as the threat of future global pandemics is on the rise.”
For more information or to download a copy of the full report, click here.
