Recovery continues in events market  

The meetings and events industry’s recovery continues on a positive trajectory, with venues reporting continued growth in event volume levels, according to IACC’s latest Meeting Room of the Future Barometer (MRoTF) 2022. 
 
Two-thirds of respondents reported recovery to above half of 2019 volume and one-third reported having surpassed a recovery to 80 per cent of 2019 volume.
 
The research shows that residential meeting venues are recovering faster than non-residential venues, especially in Europe, where approximately one quarter of residential venues have already surpassed pre-pandemic volume levels, compared with nine per cent in the Americas. 
 
The percentage of venues planning to invest in conference and meeting room spaces has increased to 70 per cent, from 65 per cent, with public spaces the next highest priority. 
 
When asked about changes they had seen in the adoption of hybrid meetings in the last six months, the most noticeable shift reported by respondents was hybrid elements being added to events at short notice, to accommodate remote speakers. This was more common in the Americas (73 per cent) than in Europe (48 per cent). Similarly, the need for hybrid to be added at the last moment because of travel issues for attendees was almost twice as common for North American venues (60 per cent) than for European venues (31 per cent). 
 
Sustainability continues to increase in importance, though there are still clear regional disparities. The report shows that ESG policies appear to be of much higher priority for event planners in Europe than in the Americas, with European venues almost three times more likely to receive requests for their social responsibility credentials and twice as likely to receive requests for their environmental policies. 
 
The same is true for requests for carbon measurements, with 21 per cent of European respondents receiving noticeable requests from clients to provide the carbon footprint to run meetings at their venues, compared with six per cent in the Americas. 

Recovery continues in events market  

The meetings and events industry’s recovery continues on a positive trajectory, with venues reporting continued growth in event volume levels, according to IACC’s latest Meeting Room of the Future Barometer (MRoTF) 2022. 
 
Two-thirds of respondents reported recovery to above half of 2019 volume and one-third reported having surpassed a recovery to 80 per cent of 2019 volume.
 
The research shows that residential meeting venues are recovering faster than non-residential venues, especially in Europe, where approximately one quarter of residential venues have already surpassed pre-pandemic volume levels, compared with nine per cent in the Americas. 
 
The percentage of venues planning to invest in conference and meeting room spaces has increased to 70 per cent, from 65 per cent, with public spaces the next highest priority. 
 
When asked about changes they had seen in the adoption of hybrid meetings in the last six months, the most noticeable shift reported by respondents was hybrid elements being added to events at short notice, to accommodate remote speakers. This was more common in the Americas (73 per cent) than in Europe (48 per cent). Similarly, the need for hybrid to be added at the last moment because of travel issues for attendees was almost twice as common for North American venues (60 per cent) than for European venues (31 per cent). 
 
Sustainability continues to increase in importance, though there are still clear regional disparities. The report shows that ESG policies appear to be of much higher priority for event planners in Europe than in the Americas, with European venues almost three times more likely to receive requests for their social responsibility credentials and twice as likely to receive requests for their environmental policies. 
 
The same is true for requests for carbon measurements, with 21 per cent of European respondents receiving noticeable requests from clients to provide the carbon footprint to run meetings at their venues, compared with six per cent in the Americas.