More than 60% of planners were ‘more optimistic’ about the outlook for recovery, compared with fewer than half in June. Photo Credit: GettyImages/Caiaimage/Sam Edwards
North American meeting planners are increasingly optimistic about the
recovery of events, despite facing a slew of challenges, the latest
Meetings Industry Pulse Survey suggests.
More than 60% of planners were ‘more optimistic’ about the outlook
for recovery, compared with fewer than half in June, with new booking
and sourcing levels remaining high.
The results indicate growing resilience in a sector that was battered
by the pandemic and now faces a combination of inflation, low staffing
levels, and the threat of new Covid-19 variants.
The
survey, carried out every six weeks by Northstar Meetings Group and
Cvent, has become a fascinating barometer of sentiment during this most
challenging period for event planners.
The latest, carried out in August, surveyed 461 meeting planners,
mainly from North America, of which 38% (175) were from associations or
PCOs (professional congress organisers).
It found 85% of planners were noticing a ‘material impact’ on their
events because of rising costs and more – 30% compared to 24% last time –
were increasing prices to offset these costs.
Other concerns were airline pricing and service, travel and meeting
budgets, hotel staffing, and the impact of geo-politics, all of which
have risen or stayed roughly the same in the last six weeks.
Tellingly, far fewer planners were satisfied with their hotel
partners relative to their other supplier relationships, such as with
convention bureaus, venues, technology providers etc.
This could be down to a lack of shared vision. As one respondent
noted: “Hotels are choosing to recover on their own and not in
partnership with their planner customers.”
Another wrote: “Staffing is our greatest challenge in planning
programmes. Hopefully suppliers staff up to accommodate the growing
needs of our clients who want to have live meetings.”
Despite these obstacles, planners remained busy with three out of
four planning their next event before the end of the year. Encouragingly
more than 55% predict volumes will be higher in 2023.
Download the full report here.