About two-thirds of meeting planning professionals expect a larger budget for meetings next year compared with this year, with internal meetings making up a majority of that budget, according to American Express Global Business Travel's annual Global Meetings and Events Forecast.
The forecast, based on interviews and a survey of 519 meeting professionals around the world conducted from May 23 to June 10, showed a fairly steady expectation of meetings budget growth across global regions. In North America, 70 percent of planners said budgets would increase in 2025, with more than half of that subset saying the increase would be between 1 percent and 5 percent. The same percentage in Latin America project bigger meeting budgets next year, though more than half there said that increase would be 6 percent or higher.
In Asia, 70 percent of planners also said they expect budget increases next year, with the majority of that set saying the increase would be between 1 percent and 5 percent. European planners were slightly more conservative, with 65 percent projecting an increase in budget, though that is a bigger percentage than the 57 percent who expected an increase last year, according to Amex GBT.
Globally, planners said internal meetings would be the most frequent type of meeting next year, with about half of those conducted at a hotel, the report indicated. Across all meeting types, planner said 59 percent of meetings next year would be in-person, 21 percent virtual and 20 percent hybrid.
"Our forecast highlights a strong and optimistic outlook for the meetings and event industry," Amex GBT SVP of professional services Gerardo Tejado said in a statement. "In-person meetings continue to dominate with prioritization of attendee engagement, sustainability and cutting-edge technology like AI to enhance the experience."
In terms of sustainability, 54 percent of meeting professionals said it was either "extremely" or "very" important to their program, and 70 percent said they have defined sustainability goals for their program, though about a third of that set did not have an action plan to meet that goal, according to the report.