Meetings and Events Sector Shows Strong Growth For Fifth Straight Month

Meetings and events volume in the US has continued to tick higher throughout the second half of 2022, with event and hospitality intelligence company Knowland reporting that it has reached 89.7 percent of 2019 levels as of October. This is the fifth straight month in which meetings and events volume has surpassed 80 percent recovery, which is encouraging news despite continued uncertainty and high costs facing eventprofs.

The strong numbers in October represent 131.7 percent year-over-year growth, as well as 21.2 percent growth over September 2022. Kristi White, Knowland’s Chief Product Officer, noted that while increased volume in October over September reflects normal month-over-month seasonality, the numbers this year are higher than average.

“Additionally, the U.S. recovered 89.7 percent of 2019 event volumes in October, an improvement over September. […] Traditionally November and December are softer months, and we anticipate that will be the case this year,” she continued. “However, we are confident the recovery metrics will hover near the 90 percent mark for both months.”

Another metric that saw growth last month include average attendees per event, which increased from 95 in October 2019 and 110 in October 2021 to 119 in 2022. When it comes to the top growth markets for meetings and events in the US, some have remained consistent from the previous month, while a few new cities joined the list in October 2022 when compared to September 2022. They were, in order: Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Boston, and San Diego.

Corporate is unchanged as the largest meetings and events business segment according to Knowland, although the specific segments at the highest level of recovery compared to October 2019 levels have changed slightly since last month. They are Urban Infrastructure, Transportation, Online Retailer, Environmental Services, and Sports Entertainment.

As noted by White, we can expect meetings volumes to decrease slightly this month and next around the holidays, but there is still hope that levels will remain higher than last year and that the industry will continue along its strong path to recovery into next year.