There is a lot of good news in this week’s release of the third edition of Development Counsellors International survey, A View from Meeting Planners: Winning Strategies in Destination Marketing. Global business travel spending has grown 5.8 percent since 2016, reaching $1.33 trillion in 2017 with continued growth forecast.
While some things have remained the same since the first survey in 2012—for example, London & Partners has been named the most helpful international convention bureau in all three editions—a couple of new issues are now affecting the meetings industry. Safety and security is now the top stressor for 44 percent of meeting planners as previously safe international cities such as London and Paris have been the target of terrorist attacks and domestic meeting destinations have suffered high-profile weather-related disasters. While meeting planners are updating contracts to cover emergencies and stepping up other risk management efforts, 70 percent of survey respondents believe that safety and security plans should be a joint effort between the planner and the host destination. This includes the venue, local authorities, and the convention bureau.
Depressingly, only 15 percent of meeting planners say they don’t have any industry concerns that keep them awake at night.
This edition of the survey is the first since the last presidential election and a deep dive into the so-called “Trump Effect” finds that 67 percent of respondents report that their likelihood of planning a business event in the U.S. is unchanged, 14 percent say they are more likely to plan events in the U.S., and 19 percent say they are less likely. However, 28 percent of planners say they have noticed a decrease in the number of attendees at U.S. business events, which may mean that international attendees require more assurances that America is a welcoming destination.
Many of the top meetings destinations have stayed the same since the first survey in 2012; London, Paris, and Barcelona are still the best-in-class European destinations. Congratulations are in order for Orlando, Fla., which joins San Diego and New York among the top three U.S. meeting destinations for the first time.
