Corporate meetings and conferences likely to return first APAC, while travel restrictions inhibit incentive travel. Photo Credit:Unsplash
GLOBAL — Corporate meetings and conferences will likely recover
sooner than trade shows and incentives, with APAC leads the charge,
according to the latest research by PCMA.
Released earlier this month, the inaugural PCMA Events Compass report
provides research-based insights on geographic and industry sector
business events recovery opportunities as well as recommendations for
the evolution of participant engagement, business models and expected
re-skilling needs.
PCMA President and CEO, Sherrif Karamat, said the report features
some "hard truths" that were gleaned from thousands of PCMA members
following a global survey.
"The Business Events Compass is about understanding how careers and
businesses in our global business events industry can evolve to thrive
and continue to deliver the human connections our world so badly needs,”
he said.
In determining the road to recovery for the global MICE industry, the
report reveals that geography is a major determining factor — and APAC
is leading the way, largely thanks to swift reopening plans in Japan and
China, and a decisive pandemic response in countries like New Zealand
and Australia (survey was conducted in May and June, before the recent
surge of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne).
Meetings have the strongest recovery projections across geographies
Additional insights include:
- Best case economic recovery scenario (virus contained) for business events is currently estimated to be Q3-2021.
- The speed of business events recovery varies significantly by global region, industry economic sector and event experience type.
- Smaller, locally-focused business events will thrive in the initial
recovery, driven by organisational business meetings and conventions/
conferences/ congresses. Incentive experiences and exhibitions will
recover much more slowly.
- 39% of business event participants 25-49 years old expect to attend
the same or more business events in 2021 than they did in 2019. This
compares to 17% for participants 50+ years old.
- Business event professionals, chief human resource officers and
event participants all agree that face-to-face events cannot be fully
replaced by digital alternatives.
PCMA Foundation Chair, Valerie Sumner, added: “Given the ebbs and
flows inherent in this pandemic, our plan is to support ongoing updates
of Compass as needed for our members and invest in the resource and
re-skilling strategies contemplated in its recommendations so our
members can continue to thrive.”
An executive summary of Business Events Compass is free for PCMA
members, however a subscription to the full service and inaugural
report, including updates through December 2020, is available for US$495
for members ($895 for non-members).