After a very challenging 2009…
The annual EIBTM Global Industry Trends and Market Share Report, launched in November 2010 at EIBTM, has identified the key trends for the meeting and incentives markets over the past 12 months and provides an outlook for 2011.
While most economists were divided in 2010 on whether the global recovery would grow, stall or even reverse, there is now talk about favourable prospects for global recovery albeit it slow and uneven, the report said. However, the vast majority of indicators for the meetings and events industry point to improved business conditions in 2011.
In summary, the industry continued its recovery in 2010 and global growth is likely to exceed 4% in 2011. However, this growth will be unevenly distributed between developing and advanced nations. The weaker dollar plus the strong recovery of US exports help to explain high levels of business confidence in the USA. Asia Pacific has brushed off the recession but Europe is split in half – with Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain tackling budget deficits, and Germany and France pointing to recovery. The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are set to outperform the world as a whole – by 2014 they will account for 61% of the overall growth in the world’s output.
Meeting Planners International (MPI) Business Barometers indicate that current business conditions are better than a year ago. At the same time, there is a clear majority feeling optimistic about the future, with 70% of Business Barometer respondents projecting better upcoming business conditions than a year ago. According to the same source, the domestic association conference market leads the net activity increase in the USA while, in the EU, the international corporate meetings market leads the net activity increase.
Trends by sector are identified as follows:
Corporate Meetings:
– A discernable relaxation of restrictions on business travel
– A resurgence in corporate meetings, particularly in Europe – leading a net increase in meetings activity in 2010
– Buyers have become adept at driving down costs with tough negotiations
– Shorter lead times – from 30-45 days on average in the USA
– Continuing trend to avoid frills and the appearance of ‘lavishness’ in meetings – more serious in their content
– Meeting spend is “seriously conservative, highly image conscious and focused on the basics”.
Incentive Travel:
– The market recovered slightly in 2010 – but less than the meetings sector
– Incentives have changed – to provide a well defined return on investment
– The average number of nights per trip has fallen from 6.5 to 4
– Trips are less extravagant
– Destinations are primarily domestic or shorter haul international
– Growth in long-haul travel is due to a downgrading of travel from business to economy class
– Every meeting now includes a business element eg discussions about corporate strategy and direction
– Predictions suggest that procurement and purchasing involvement within incentives will increase in 2010.
Association Conferences:
– Associations are predicting a lower onsite attendance in 2010
– There is strong demand for educational content and sustainable meetings
– The US domestic association conference market led the way in 2010.
