U.S. corporate meeting volume in March increased 65 percent from February levels of meeting and event business, as total U.S. meeting increased nearly 56 percent, according to meeting and events data provider Knowland.
The health care, technology and training/education industries led the corporate meeting boom, according to Knowland.
Knowland assesses data from approximately 2,800 U.S. hotels to determine meetings volume. Other overall March U.S. meetings recovery metrics, including average attendee count and average space used reached their highest level of recovery compared with 2019. The recovery segment comprised online retailer, tobacco, charity org/social services, and urban infrastructure.
Meanwhile, 84 percent of business travelers surveyed in March expect to take at least one trip to attend conferences, conventions or trade shows in the next six months, according to a new survey from Tourism Economics, created in collaboration with the U.S. Travel Association and J.D. Power.
The companies from March 4-14 collected responses from 2,593 self-identified business travelers to J.D. Power’s online surveys at Harry Reid International Airport near Las Vegas and Miami International Airports. Business traveler respondents to the survey expect to resume traveling in the next six months at close to pre-pandemic levels, averaging about 1.6 trips per month, compared with 1.7 pre-pandemic.