Survey: More Offsites Ahead

Marketing and public relations agency Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell last month released a survey of North American meeting planners in which 23 percent of corporate meeting planners said they expect to hold more offsite events in 2005 then they held this year.

YPB&R surveyed 904 pre-qualified corporate and association meeting planners. They had an average of 10 years of experience.

Corporate meeting planner respondents said they likely will shorten the length of planned offsite meetings and replace larger meetings with one or more smaller meetings. Both corporate and association planners said their top concern was "making the meeting agenda relevant." They ranked the costs of lodging accommodations were listed as the second-greatest concern.

According to the survey, called "Portrait of North American Meeting Planners," both association and corporate meeting planners said site inspections are the most important source of new information on destinations and lodging.

"For travel service providers who cater to this highly important segment of travel demand, this translates into good news and the reversal of a stagnant meeting market trend that has persisted since the events of Sept. 11, 2001," said Peter Yesawich, chairman and CEO of Orlando-based YPB&R.

Respondents to the survey named San Diego and Orlando as their top destination picks for future meetings.