Things are looking good for meetings and events as the latest Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, co-produced and sponsored by Cvent, reveals that business is booming worldwide and industry indicators are trending upwards. Data for the study was collected in March 2024.
For the first time ever, the survey polled planners across North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC).
Per the results, nearly two-thirds of North American planners say their events are considered more valuable to stakeholders than before the pandemic. While optimism levels are high around the world, planners in APAC are the most hopeful compared to the start of the year.
Confidence levels have bounced back up from a more guarded perspective at the end of last year and the beginning of 2024. There are considerably more optimists now than there were two months ago (57 percent), and a lot fewer pessimists (14 percent). Although most planners say networking and education are the two most important factors driving demand for their face-to-face meetings, budget constraints and higher costs remain the top challenges worldwide.
The study does report that the challenges with hotels and venues vary by region. The most notable sticking point for North America is that food & beverage costs are reported as being higher than expected. For EMEA and APAC, however, the cost of nightly accommodations is the biggest issue. Although planners’ comments focused somewhat negatively on hotels (rates and service levels), planners rank hotels, convention centers, and venues higher than they did last fall.
Sustainability differences vary starkly by region, with North American planners lagging far behind their counterparts and EMEA leading the way. One area where North America surpasses EMEA is in aligning operations with the UN’s sustainable development goals (14 vs. 11 percent).
Don’t delete the Zoom app off your phone yet, though. More than a half of EMEA and APAC respondents (54 percent and 56 percent, respectively) are planning to produce events that are either fully virtual or hybrid this year, more so than their North American peers.
Click here to see the full results.
[04.08.24]