The most noticeable shift was hybrid elements being added to events at short notice to accommodate remote speakers. Photo Credit: Adobe/THANANIT
Venues are reporting continued growth in event volume levels,
pointing to the recovery of the meetings and events sector, according to
the latest Meeting Room of The Future Barometer, produced by The
International Association of Conference Centres (IACC).
With most countries having now lifted travel restrictions and pent-up
demand for business events from the pandemic, the IACC says there is
much reason for optimism for business event hotels and venue operators.
Two-thirds of respondents to the barometer reported recovery to above
half of the 2019 volume, while one-third reported having surpassed a
recovery to 80% of 2019 volume.
The percentage of venues planning to invest in conference and meeting
room spaces has also increased to 70% from 65% since the last IACC
survey, which was carried out in April.
The
research also shows that residential meeting venues are recovering
faster than non-residential venues, especially in Europe, where
approximately one quarter of residential venues have already surpassed
pre-pandemic volume levels, compared with 9% in the Americas.
When asked about changes they had seen in the adoption of hybrid
meetings in the last six months, the most noticeable shift was hybrid
elements being added to events at short notice, to accommodate remote
speakers.
This
was more common in the Americas (73%) than in Europe (48%). Similarly,
the need for hybrid to be added at the last moment because of travel
issues for attendees was almost twice as common for North American
venues (60%) than for European venues (31%).
Mark Cooper, CEO of IACC said: “The latest Meeting Room of the Future
Barometer clearly points to the fact that the industry’s recovery
continues to grow, despite ongoing geo-political and economic
challenges. Interestingly, regional disparities are becoming evident,
with our report showing that Europe tracks ahead of the Americas in a
number of areas, including the pace of recovery for residential venues
and when it comes to requiring venues to provide evidence of
sustainability criteria.
The survey was conducted in October 2022 and includes responses from
98 global venue operators, with over 59% of respondents from the
Americas (US and Canada), 37% from Europe (Sweden, the UK, Denmark,
Belgium, and the Netherlands), and the balance from Australia.