Research firm Knowland released its monthly meetings and events data this week, and it seems that concerns about virtual meetings strongly affecting the face-to-face segment going forward are unfounded.
For the first time since the Covid pandemic began in early 2020, the number of U.S. meetings in a month were higher than in the same month in 2019. Specifically, November 2022 saw 3.1 percent more in-person events than in November 2019. Further, the average number of attendees at November’s in-person events was 118, versus 104 in November 2019.
As for what these numbers could mean for event costs, Kristi White, Knowland’s chief product officer, gave this hint: “It’s clear that recovery is here, and most hotels should now be entering organic growth and strategically positioning themselves for an even better 2023.”
Offsetting that potential budgetary complication for events, however, is data recently released by American Express Global Business Travel. It shows that economy-class domestic flights will be, on average, just three percent higher in 2023 versus 2022. The biggest factor: seat inventory is increasing such that it will be at 92 percent of 2019’s seat inventory by the second half of 2023.
"Following significant price increases in 2022, fare rises in the competitive North America air sector are likely to be of a smaller degree than those forecast for Europe and Asia Pacific," according to a statement by AmEx GBT. Magnifying the impact of higher fuel costs and a strong U.S. dollar is the fact that many flights between Asia and Europe are forced to take longer routes to avoid Russian airspace during its war with Ukraine.
