I'm going to start by stating the obvious: The way businesses operate has changed since the pandemic. Crazy right? Not really - these changes were felt in all industries, all over the world. In our world, this fundamentally changed the core of how we met.
As we look to 2023, it’s an exciting time to be in this industry. In-person meetings and events are roaring back – and at the same time, we can take lessons learned during the last few years to make positive, long-lasting changes to the way we work. Dramatic improvements in technology and a renewed focus on sustainability, wellness, and inclusivity provide a clear path forward for the industry.
Video conferencing has seen world-wide adoption and accelerated technology advancement, and virtual group meetings are now an acceptable form of engagement - especially when in a highly creative event environment. But it is still an artificial way to conduct business.
Aside from the obvious wellbeing and duty of care practicalities, there are other benefits to maximizing the value of integrated travel, meetings and events programs. According to Cirium, business travel is expected to accelerate in 2022 driven by an increase in meetings & events, with companies already having increased their business travel spend.
While most of the discussions on group demand at hotels is still related to COVID-19, hoteliers worry that crime and safety concerns could be the next issue that hampers citywide events.
Hotel group demand is returning slowly. What types of meetings are welcoming that demand? Recent research among meeting planners shows similarities with leisure travel trends seen this past year. The group liftoff is evidenced by recent STR data for the U.S.
The Value of Face-to-Face Business
New survey forecasts higher quality, customer-driven trips as the future of business travel
'With the anticipation of widespread vaccinations in late Spring, we are seeing early signs of pent up demand for meetings and gatherings. In our view, 2021 is a turn-around year that will kick off a substantial recovery for the meetings industry.'
Many meetings since March have been canceled, postponed or moved to virtual platforms because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but about $2 billion worth of meeting requests for proposals during the second quarter of 2020 were sourced through meetings management company Cvent's network, Cvent senior director of analytics Jeffrey Emenecker said.