According to Knowland’s newly released data for September, Nashville has witnessed the highest year-over-year event volume growth at 30.7 percent, with Los Angeles coming in at 22.3 percent. For the top five performing markets, national associations took the lead, with healthcare, education and weddings leading as top industry growth drivers.
Nashville’s growth was stimulated by the healthcare and technology industry segments, representing 34 percent of the corporate events in the market. The average number of attendees for Nashville meetings was 101, and the average meeting space used was over 2,692 square feet. As Los Angeles hoteliers continued talks with strike workers, the market still grew over 2022.
Key Findings
- Year-over-year, September 2023 event volume as a whole increased 21.7 percent over September 2022.
- Nashville led the top 25 U.S. markets with healthcare meetings, followed by technology. Los Angeles/Long Beach; Oahu Island, HI; Las Vegas; and Denver rounded out the top five growth markets. Below is additional insight into the top drivers for these markets.
- Nashville: Healthcare, technology, national association, financial/banking, and manufacturing
- Los Angeles-Long Beach: Education, charity/non-profit, healthcare, national association and training/education
- Oahu Island: Wedding, travel, national association, education and military
- Las Vegas: National Association, technology, training/education, wedding and charity/non-profit
- Denver: National association, healthcare, education, technology and financial/banking
- The top overall U.S. markets by year-over-year growth in meetings and events were Lexington and Louisville, KY; Madison, WI; Bergen-Passaic, NJ; Jacksonville, FL; and Memphis, TN.
This data is provided to help hoteliers still building momentum gain insight into the top locations selected by meeting planners. This information about the leading industry drivers provides a clear picture of those groups that are returning to the meeting and event space. Insights presented are a result of the analysis of meetings and events data acquired through Knowland data collection and aggregation methods, including field reporting and automated methods of customer and non-customer data collection in primary, secondary and tertiary markets, as well as its large historical database.
For more information, visit www.knowland.com.
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