Global DMC Partners (GDP) has released the results of its "Q2/Q3 Meetings & Events Pulse Survey," a report on what is currently driving decisions in the global meetings and events industry. With responses collected throughout June and July 2023, the report covers topics including current challenges, the importance of sustainability, in-person event attendance, hiring trends and more.
The survey polled 200 meeting and event professionals, 60 percent of whom are U.S.-based, with 19 percent in the U.K. and Europe, and nine percent in Canada. Respondents were divided between corporate/direct planners (58 percent) and agency/third-party planners (42 percent).
Highlights from the responses included:
Higher Costs Are Not Causing Budgets to Rise
Although costs remain high, meeting and incentive budgets for many planners are not increasing to account for those costs. Less than 40 percent of planners say their budgets increased across 2023 for meetings and incentives. Many remain unsure about 2024 budgets; however, 37 percent say their 2024 meeting budgets are increasing, while 26 percent report 2024 incentive budgets are increasing. More than one-third of planners report that their meeting and incentive budgets will remain stagnant from 2023 to 2024.
Inflation is the number-one reason that budgets are changing, but they are not necessarily getting larger. In some cases, the rising costs are forcing meeting and incentive budgets to increase. However, rising costs are also causing some budgets to decrease as organizations need to allocate spending elsewhere. For 71 percent of planners, rising airfare costs are still affecting the destinations chosen for meetings and events.
Top Challenges
Higher costs continue to be the number one challenge for planners (75.7 percent), followed by finding availability (51.3 percent). Timely approval from decision-makers, responsiveness, service levels/quality, contract negotiations and budget management are all very closely ranked in third place.
Event Attendance
Most respondents (46 percent) report that they are seeing about the same number of attendees at their in-person events as compared to previous years. Only 36 percent report that they are seeing more attendees at their in-person events; 18 percent report that they are seeing fewer attendees than previous years.
Sustainability
Overall, compared to the report from one year ago, 20 percent more organizations are now building sustainability goals into their travel, meetings and event programs. Seventy-eight percent of international respondents now report that they build sustainability into their programs with 44 percent of U.S./Canadian respondents reporting the same. Reducing plastic usage and waste is reported as the top sustainability goal for most organizations’ meetings and events, followed by using locally sourced food options and carbon tracking and offsetting.
Sustainability can also be a factor in determining the destination for a meeting or event with 50 percent reporting that sustainability can sometimes be a factor and 30 percent reporting that it is a factor in choosing a destination for upcoming programs.
Regions of Interest and Hiring and Staffing
In terms of regions of interest, there is increased interest in almost all regions around the globe for 2024 programs, with notable increases in Asia, South America and Central America since the last Pulse Survey report. With regards to hiring and staffing, of those that are hiring, 72 percent are hiring planning roles, and there is an increased hiring of freelancers. As other industries call employees back into the office full-time, the MICE industry overall supports a hybrid or work from home model.
Source: Global DMC Partners
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