The economic climate and "pressure to reduce costs" are expected to be key influencers on 2009 meetings and events, according to 64 percent of more than 700 European event organizers who participated in The Mood of the Market European Meetings Industry Research Report, conducted by Reed Travel Exhibitions and The Right Solution Ltd.
Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said they expected 2009 budgets to decrease from 2008 levels. Another 40 percent expect budgets to remain the same as last year, and 20 percent expect them to increase. The online survey was fielded in late October and early November 2008, and results were released last month at the European Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Slightly more than one-third of respondents expect to organize the same number of events in 2009 as they did in 2008, while 25 percent expect to organize more international events and 9 percent more national events. The remaining 31 percent expect to plan fewer events or are unsure whether the number will remain consistent with 2008. Only 9 percent of respondents said 2009 events would be shorter in duration, which more than 60 percent said was from two to four days in 2008 with a mean of 2.8 days. Respondents said the number of delegates would remain similar to 2008 counts.
Economic concerns likewise dominated preliminary findings of Meeting Professional International's FutureWatch 2009 study sponsored by American Express. Both meeting planner and supplier respondents said they expect a 9 percent decline in the number of meetings that their organizations will hold or support. For 2009, organizations "canceled an average of 3.4 meetings, representing 7 percent of all scheduled activity, at an average value of US$200,000 per meeting," according to FutureWatch respondents. In the second half of 2008, organizations canceled an average of 4.1 meetings, or about 8 percent of all meetings, respondents said. FutureWatch is based on online survey responses from 2,740 meeting professionals--buyers, suppliers and third-party planners--in 53 countries in November. The full report is to be released next month.
Respondents to the European meetings study "suggest that 2008 was a good year for most organizers in comparison to 2007, and the experience of cancellations or other problems as a result of the global economic situation has only been felt very recently," the study found. Nearly 40 percent of those respondents said they planned more events in 2008 than in 2007. Only 21 percent said they planned fewer events in 2008 than in 2007. About 45 percent of respondents were third-party event management companies, professional conference organizers or venue-finding agencies; 25 percent were in the corporate sector; and the remaining 23 percent were not-for-profits or associations. Due to the proportion of third-party respondents, the volume of meetings per organizer was high, with a mean of 30 events in the past 12 months. Six percent of respondents averaged 198 events during that period. Nearly two-third of all respondents organized more than 10 events last year.
Other than budgets, European respondents also are concerned about two environmental issues: "corporate social responsibility encouraging use of destinations where contribution and benefit to local areas can be seen," according to 34 percent, and "environmental issues creating pressure on individuals and organizations to travel less often and apply carbon offsets for their travel," said 31 percent. Two other factors that could influence events in the next 12 months, both according to one-quarter of respondents, include low-cost airlines entering the long-haul market and passport and visa issues.
CSR and environmental issues "will be extremely or somewhat influential over the next 10 years," according to 86 percent of European survey respondents. Nearly half said their organization's CSR policies influence event destination selection, 31 percent said venue selection and 46 percent said "all aspects" of event organization. Location is the top factor influencing venue selection, but "price/value for money" ranked second by 78 percent of respondents, followed by quality of service by 51 percent.
Unsurprisingly from European event organizers, 98 percent planned meetings in Europe in the prior 12 months. But respondents reported several hundred meetings in each of the Americas (North and South), Asia and Africa, and 88 in Australasia. Germany, Spain, Italy and France, respectively, most frequently hosted meetings planned by the European respondents. These countries were followed by the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. African destinations most often used for events were South Africa, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia. Asian destinations most often used were China/Hong Kong/Macau, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. In the Americas, organizers most often cited destinations in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Cuba.
Despite the economic concerns of organizers, EIBTM reported its "biggest ever" attendance in early December with more than 3,700 hosted buyers, 12 percent more than in 2007, and total attendance of more than 8,000, up 6 percent on 2007, according to unaudited figures from show owner Reed Travel Exhibitions.