Industry Trends: meetings and events on the rise

According to MPI’s Industry Advisory Panel, a select group of senior level meeting professionals from their global community of 24,500 members, business conditions in our industry in April 2010 continued to improve.  

February 2010 marked the first time since June 2008, Business Barometer respondents reported better current business conditions than 12 months prior, and more favorable than negative business projections for the coming months. This trend continued and even increased last month. 

The majority of April 2010 Business Barometer respondents (57%) indicate current business conditions are better than a year ago. At the same time, the majority of April 2010 Business Barometer respondents (64%) project better upcoming business conditions than a year ago. 

The majority of new meetings and events activity is coming from the domestic corporate sector. This sector was identified as the sector demonstrating the greatest increase in activity by 41% of April 2010 Business Barometer respondents. 

Shorter lead times have become the most often mentioned trend affecting the meetings and events industry, according to April 2010 Business Barometer participants, followed by economic uncertainty, poor perceptions/coverage of meetings, and increasing air travel costs. 

The Business Barometer is published and posted online bi-monthly.  To access these reports in full, you must be an MPI member, or purchase issues online.  Archived issues are available at no charge. 

For more information about MPI, including how to become a member, please visit http://www.mpiweb.org.