Event intelligence company Knowland has released its monthly meetings and event data for September, and it comes bearing more good news for the industry. According to Knowland, meetings and events volume in the US reached 89.5 percent of 2019 levels last month, continuing the positive trajectory.
September data represented year-over-year growth of 135.4 percent, as well as an increase of 23.7 percent over August 2022. “This is the highest level of recovery we have seen and each month we get closer to full recovery,” said Kristi White, Chief Product Officer, Knowland. “As we step into the fourth quarter, meetings and events are poised to have a dramatic rebound that will bring the quarter close to full recovery.”
Also notable were attendance numbers — Knowland reported that the average number of attendees per event in September 2022 (at 118) increased over the same month in both 2021 (at 112) and 2019 (at 97).
These stats are interesting considering that many events this year have still been reporting lower-than-normal attendance numbers, although they seem to be climbing in the back half of the year. Large-scale events have been the most affected, so these numbers may also reflect the growing number of smaller events.
Although average event space increased slightly over previous years, when adjusted for average space used per person, it stayed relatively consistent compared to 2021 and 2019. Knowland also identified the top five growth markets in September, compared to August, as Washington, D.C., Boston, San Diego, Chicago, and Los Angeles, several of which have been slower to recover compared to other destinations in the US. However, this data indicates that they are getting there on their path to recovery.
Finally, corporate meetings remain the dominant segment in the US market, representing 53.1 percent of the meetings and events business. Within corporate meetings, the largest industry segments are Healthcare, Technology, and Financial/Banking. The segments with the highest level of recovery in September compared to the same month in 2019 were Online Retail, Sports Entertainment, Agriculture, Arts/Performing Arts, and Automotive.