About two-thirds of surveyed meeting and event professionals
expect in-person meeting levels to return to their pre-pandemic numbers within
two years, according to a new survey from American Express Meetings &
Events, a division of American Express Global Business Travel.
"While we are all eager to see the pent-up demand for
meetings and events fully realised, we recognise that the recovery will not be
in a straight line, and we can't get there by simply repeating what we've done
in the past," said GBT senior vice president of value development and Amex
M&E general manager Gerardo Tejado in a statement. "As we look to
2022, we expect the optimism, resourcefulness and innovation we've seen in the
sector over the past two years lead to a new era of thoughtful, tech-forward,
responsible M&E strategies."
Amex M&E's 2022 Meetings and Events Forecast, released
Tuesday, is based on a survey of 500 meeting and event professionals from 31
countries conducted in June and July 2021, interviews with industry experts, proprietary
American Express Meetings & Events data sources, licensed third-party data
and industry information.
Most respondents also noted that the most important factors
to resume in-person events are confidence in duty-of-care components for
attendee health and safety (58 per cent of respondents) and supplier
flexibility (55 per cent).
Still, virtual meetings or components for hybrid events are
not going away. Respondents expect nearly one in five meetings (19 per cent) to
be virtual-only for 2022, with another 39 per cent planned as hybrid events.
The remaining 42 per cent are anticipated to be only in-person. Relatedly, 73
per cent of respondents indicated they are very optimistic about their ability
to use technology to enhance the meeting experience, compared with only 61 per cent
from last year's report.
Internal team or training meetings and simple meetings,
whether in-person, virtual, or hybrid, are expected to account for almost half
(47 per cent) of all meetings next year. The meeting types with the largest
projected year-over-year growth in 2022 are internal team meetings or
trainings, small and simple meetings and customer advisory board meetings.
Amex M&E expects attendance at in-person events to
increase in 2022 for every meeting type by 3.5 per cent to 4.3 per cent from
2021 levels. And despite "Zoom fatigue", attendance for virtual and
hybrid events is expected to increase by 2.8 per cent to 3.4 per cent. Average
meeting length for in-person events is anticipated to be longer than this year,
with the shortest of 1.7 days for small and simple meetings and the longest of
3.1 days for incentives and special events.
In addition, many respondents reported that meeting
management policies are becoming more explicit, with 65 per cent reporting
specific language around safety and security, 47 per cent for virtual and/or
hybrid meetings and 44 per cent for health and wellness. Further, many meeting
policies now include sustainability requirements, and 83 per cent of
respondents said their organisations take sustainability into account when
planning meetings and events. Diversity, equity and inclusion is also increasingly
becoming more important, with more than 80 per cent of respondents indicating
their organisations work to incorporate it in the planning process.
Meeting costs seen rising
Overall 2022 meeting spend is predicted to increase by 3.1 per cent year over
year on average, though 20 per cent of North American respondents said they
expect their budgets to increase by 11 per cent or more. Amex M&E predicted
the cost per attendee (excluding air) per day for all meeting types in all
formats to increase by 2 per cent globally. The projected 2022 cost per
attendee per day for in-person meetings ranges from $484 for small and simple
meetings to $851 for incentives and special events. For virtual and hybrid
meetings, it ranges from $501 for small and simple meetings to $776 for
incentives and special events.
Most respondents expect hotel group rates to increase in
2022, although amounts differ by region. Globally, respondents anticipate a 2.3
per cent rate hike. In North America the expectation is for a 5.1 per cent rate
jump. Asia-Pacific reported the lowest anticipated increase at 1 per cent.
Though both hotel room and meeting space availability are
expected to increase, respondents noted that demand for appropriate space could
make sourcing more difficult. The top factors influencing meeting location
selection were "size of space to accommodate distancing" (35 per cent
of respondents) and "ability to host hybrid meetings" (25 per cent).
Respondents expect air rates, too, to rise in 2022. Global
air suppliers predict that rates will increase 5.3 per cent. Survey responses
varied by region. North American respondents expect a 5.1 per cent increase in
rates, followed by Central and South America at 3.3 per cent, Europe at 2.4 per
cent and Asia-Pacific at 1.6 per cent.