Meetings International | Business Intelligence Report #17, Oct–Nov 2022 (English)

INTELLIGENCE REPORT

Yes, It Was High Time to

turn the page >

photos J. Duval

Let’s Meet in Zagreb

Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, is safely opening up for business again. The rich culture and history, legends and tales, the old and the contemporary are all on display as you stroll down the streets of Zagreb, and are also presented in numerous sightseeing tours, many of which are interactive. The city is conveni ently compact, so most of the hotels, venues and sightseeing points are within walking distance.

The venues range from some of the most beautiful historic buildings in the romantic city core to heritage and busi ness hotels downtown. For outdoor meetings and activities, you can always choose one of many elegant urban parks or picturesque downtown squares and pedestrian zones in the city centre. Zagreb has the “sea” –Jarun Lake recreation area with great sports and pick nick facilities, as well as Bundek Lake staging cultural activities and shows. Alternatively, one can opt for Mt. Medvednica – the green “lungs” of the city. Take a cable car to its peak,Sljeme, or treat yourself to an interactive educational visit to the recently opened medieval fortress of Medvedgrad with its Visitors’ Center. Memora ble incentives are guaranteed.

Zagreb offers a great variety of gastronomic experiences ranging from typical local and seasonal to international dishes. They can be enjoyed in restaurants, but also in small vendors offering street food during numerous festivals all year round. Featuring daily fresh and seasonal local produce, no wonder the centrally located picturesqe Dolac food market is on every visi tor’s To Do List.

The Zagreb surroundings showcases unspoilt nature with tranquil landscapes, romantic medi eval castles and legends, wine roads, spas, hiking and cycling trails, golf experiences and many more. Less than a two-hour drive is the Adriatic coast, ideal for an unforgettable incen tive or a pre or a post tour. In the vicinity is also the world famous Plitvice Lakes National Park included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Whenever you plan your next event, think about Zagreb –the safe and vibrant Central European metropolis with Mediterra nean flair where captivating city atmosphere and making business make a perfect match. Of course, our dedicated Zagreb Tourist Board & Convention Bureau team is at your disposal. Welcome to Zagreb, your next meetings and incentives destination!

NICE to MEET: Gyeonggi, Korea

GTO launches new ECOnomic supporting program

As part of its effort toward sustainability and the Green MICE project launched in 2022, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (GTO) will offer up to 10 per cent additional funding to event organisers adopting green event prac tices. This incentive scheme is designed to heighten understanding of the concept of Green MICE among event organisers and get them actively involved in the movement.

To help facilitate this, GTO has developed a “Green MICE Check list” to expedite event organisations’ transition toward Green MICE

The 14 items on the checklist fall into five categories, such as: reducing the use of disposables, adopting eco-friendly materials, replacing paper with digital, and alternative public transportation methods. The checklist items are rated on three difficulty-ofachievement levels (easy/normal/difficult) and are designed to easily adapt to any type of event and provide guidelines for organisers not familiar with Green MICE

GTO has 17 Gyeonggi Unique Venue partners that were recognised for their GTO sustainability efforts during the 2022 assessment. Choosing any of these selected venues, available for a wide range of events, could prove to be beneficial as GTO offers extra points for these venues while reviewing eligibility for the funding support

program. In other words, events held in any of the 17 Gyeonggi Unique Venues have a higher chance of getting a subsidy from the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization.

In another effort to achieve carbon neutrality, GTO launched the “G-MICE Welcome Shuttle bus” program. Last year, the campaign was explored as a pilot project meant to encourage MICE event participants to use public transportation and provide shuttle buses for certain events. These efforts were well-received by participants and this year GTO officially launched the program with new added initiatives such as the introduction of eco-friendly buses. GTO pro vides a shuttle bus service between major stations, event venues and hotels for organisers that have applied for the program.

The Green MICE effort was launched by Gyeonggi and GTO to reduce the burden on the organisers so that more stakehold ers develop positive perceptions of sustainability and encourage participation in sustainability efforts. To this end, GTO will continue striving to create an ECOnomical business events environment together with the organisers and participants visiting the Gyeonggi province in Korea through effective support systems and collabora tion with the other Gyeonggi MICE Alliance partners.

A Foresight State of Mind

INTRO Atti Soenarso on entering an era

foresight, and acting like

of the future to manifest a better one.

We Need to Care About Our Social Licence

SOCIAL LICENCE Businesses need to maintain a level of acceptance or approval by local communities and stakeholders.

African Opportunity for Associations

ECONOMIC GROWTH Is it time to tap into some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and over half the world’s youth population?

22 A Time to Reflect

REFLECTIONS The book Business Events Legacies seeks to help inform discussion about the future of the industry.

26 Open Data: A Key to Future-Proof Business Events

DATA MANAGEMENT The event industry may be at the mercy of transformation but also contributes to solving the challenges of our time.

28 Nine Insights for the Future of Business Travel

RESEARCH New metastudy identifies takeways and remaining research white spots for the future of business events and business travel.

32 South Korea: Business Event Companies Are Accelerating Investment in Digital Transformation

TRANSFORMATION Korea doubles down on hybrid events as research suggest the format is here to stay.

42 Planning for Uncertainty and Disrup tion: How to Adapt to Tomorrow’s Trends Today

STRATEGIC PLANNING Recent years have taught modern professionals that the unexpected is now the only thing to expect.

46 The Event Industry Will Almost Triple by 2028

KELLERMAN Through madness, bleakness and highly uncertain times there appears to be good reason for optimism going forward.

LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE EDITOR IN CHIEF Atti Soenarso atti.soenarso@meetingsinternational.com

PUBLISHER Roger Kellerman roger.kellerman@meetingsinternational.com

GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR Graham Jones graham.jones@meetingsinternational.com

TEXT Deborah Edwards, Carmel Foley, Gary Grimmer, Hans Kanold, Roger Kellerman, Atti Soenarso, Scott Steinberg, Rick Taylor, Karin Weber, Eunjoo Yoon

PHOTOS / IMAGES Sara Appelgren, Viacheslav Chernobrovin, Magnus Malmberg, Mikkel William

DESIGN KellermanDesign.com

EDITORIAL RAYS OF SUNSHINE Mare Nostrum + Simon Barnes + Joan Didion + Georges Simenon + Miss Tokio

SUBSCRIPTION Subscribe at www.meetingsinternational.com or subscription@meetingsinternational.com

CONTACT Meetings International Publishing Betonggatan 1, SE-216 46 Limhamn, Sweden info@meetingsinternational. com www.meetingsinternational. com

A Foresight STATE OF MIND

Dubai Future Foundation (DFF ) hosted the first-ever Dubai Future Forum at the Museum of the Future in october to study and foresee the future and its potential problems.

The two-day gathering of decisionmakers, futurists, innovators, and experts brought together over 400 experts, 70 speakers, 1 ,000 attendees and 45 global organisations to explore topics like space travel, climate change, digital inclusion, ethical artificial intelligence and preparing for the future.

In over 30 sessions, the delegates deliberated on four primary themes: the future of our world, mitigating existential risk with foresight, value, and humanity, and hedging our bets through foresight

Also, the business event examined several important issues for govern ments, economies, and societies. And improved the interchange of ideas and helped define global trends that will redefine the key industries for a brighter future for humanity.

My first takeaway Foresight doesn’t have the impact it should. We must enter an era of actionable foresight. Speaker Amy Webb, CEO of the Future Today Institute, told the forum that if we take future thinking

more serious, we wouldn’t be experi encing the climate emergency as we do now, for example.

In her opening keynote, Amy Webb set out a vision for the fourth era of foresight, which is more practi cal, measurable, and tangible – ulti mately more actionable. To achieve this foresight, we must answer two questions: How do we make this preferred future real? What are the mechanics of getting it done?

Takeaway number two We must act like citizens of the future. In a panel discussion Joshua Polchar, Stra tegic Foresight Lead for the OECD, asked: Will borders be relevant in the future?

“Next time you meet someone new, skip ‘where are you from?’ That’s the past. Instead, try ‘where is home?’, ‘what languages do you speak?’, or ‘what are your hopes here?’ That’s the future,” said Joshua Polchar.

The idea of belonging to one nation is being replaced with diverse forms of citizenship, and we need to think of ourselves more as future citizens with shared values.

Citizenship is then about the responsibility we feel for a place or a group of people, both in the present

and beyond, creating a more inclusive and equitable society for future gene rations rather than an attachment to a particular geography.

Finally, my third takeaway We must act together. We can achieve great outcomes through interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, public, and private sector collaboration. Leadership is pivotal in driving the cultural change needed within businesses, govern ments and broader society to encour age cooperation.

In his lightning talk on risk mitiga tion, Josef Hargrave, Arup’s Head of Foresight, said it was vital that informed leadership had regular conversations around the idea of “unknown unknowns.”

Next year, the second edition of The Dubai Future Forum will take place on 27 28 November at The Museum of the Future.

Swedish-Indonesian Atti Soenarso has worked as a journalist for close to 40 years. She has worked for Scandinavia's largest daily newspaper, was TV4's first travel editor, has written for many Swedish travel magazines and has had several international clients. She has travelled the length and breadth of the world and written about destinations, people and meetings.

photo Magnus Malmberg

We Need to Care About  o ur  SOCIAL LICENCE

TEXT Gary Grimmer

Social licence or ‘SLO’ (Social Licence to operate) is not a new concept. Not any more than sustaina bility is a new concept. The expres sion SLO was first coined in 1997 and related to the mining industry.

Much has been written about it since. It is essentially the theory that successful businesses need to maintain a level of acceptance or approval by local communities and stakeholders.

Social Licence to operate and sustainability are linked at two levels. The sustainability of the business or industry is at stake, and sustainable practices are a factor in achieving SLO

Most articles on SLO share a common theory which is essential, that SLO can be defined as a scale. The bottom of the scale is usually coloured red and is bad news. It

signifies licence that is “withheld or withdrawn.”

The next level is yellow and represents an imperfect improve ment, “acceptance and tolerance”, but lingering mistrust and wariness. Light green denotes the positive end of the scale, where there is “approval and support.”

The ultimate expression of SLO, the green tip of the scale, is reserved for “psychological association” and is essentially a bond of trust. It refers to a state where there is a united front between the business, government and broader community, a sense of collaboration and a broadly recog nised, shared vested interest in the business’s success.

Are we associated or dis-associated? So, what does this all have to do with associations and meetings? Do

associations and meetings even need social licence? And, if so, where do we think our industry would fit on the scale?

Let’s start with where we are, and the answer isn’t a simple one. The answer can vary depending on indi vidual associations, types of associa tions and in which parts of the world they operate. Consider NGOs.

However, the unfortunate truth in our industry is that few countries fully understand and thus embrace associations and their meetings as fundamental drivers of change and progress.

That means, for the most part, that our industry hasn’t reached the “psy chological association” state. It could be argued that we exist in a “funda

so important that we’ve spent much time on it. But that begs the question, should it be important?

I believe there are two possible negative impacts of a lack of social licence: the downside risk and the opportunity cost. Let’s start on the risk side of this equation. Though it may seem counterintuitive, let’s talk a bit about tourism.

We all know about a trend that began forming years ago: the growing negative sentiment in some com munities concerning tourism. The tourism industry gave this trend a name, “over-tourism.”

In places like Barcelona, Venice and Hawaii, local communities began voicing and voting their displeasure. They felt that tourists were overrun ning their communities.

While NGOs generally would have a considerable psychological associa tion with the communities of people they serve, they also come up against government distrust and restrictions in various parts of the world.

Having government buy-in is an essential part of the social licence equation. Where NGOs operate freely, they would probably exist in the yellow or light-green zones, either “acceptance and tolerance” or “approval and support.”

But, if they aren’t allowed to oper ate freely, they tend toward the red zone, “licence withheld.” So, it’s clear that NGOs need social licence as a prerequisite to success wherever they operate.

Most associations are different from NGOs because they focus on developing professional or trade communities. There, the interests of the associations and those of govern ments and broader local communities might more closely align.

mentally dis-associated” state.

This is not in the sense of psy chological withdrawal but rather that we simply lack a high degree of connectivity with governments and communities concerning the work of associations and the meetings we are holding. There’s a degree of irony here. We are talking about associa tions being dis-associated.

To be clear, they clearly have “psychological association” with their direct communities of interest. What they generally lack is a clear perception of relevance to broader communities.

So, how could our industry hope to have a high degree of social licence when in most cases, we are not actively associated but rather pas sively disassociated?

A Potential for Disruption of course, this raises the question of whether we should care. How important is social licence to us? Well, apparently not

one key example was the literal waves of tourists coming off cruise ships. There’s something particu larly noticeable about hundreds and thousands of people disembarking a ship simultaneously and coursing en masse through space-limited historic precincts.

Generally, those involved in meet ings, be it planners or the destination suppliers supporting them, believed that we were less affected by the “over tourism” push-back.

Yes, a convention centre can have a similar effect to a cruise ship when people attending large meetings leave the building at the end of the day. But most meetings are not of that scale. They aren’t as concentrated in “tourism precincts”, and the foot traf fic tends to be more distributed.

However, none of those distinc tions matter if the meetings industry is conflated in people’s minds with tourism. And unfortunately, in most communities, that is exactly how things are seen.

This confusion is essentially our fault as an industry. That’s because

“ The unfortunate truth in our industry is that few countries fully understand and thus embrace associations and their meetings as fundamental drivers of change and progress”

for so many years, at least at the des tination level, we thought our value proposition was about generating visitor spending.

Let’s face it, most convention bureaus outside of North America and Australia are in departments that are responding to tourism ministers.

So, if the people trying to bring conventions to cities are tourism promoters, and a city is suffering from over-tourism, then conventions will be in the firing lines along with tourism. The risk is that efforts to attract and support inbound meetings could be disrupted.

A Hawaii Case Study  A bellwether example of disruption might be the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau. In June, the state tourism authority (HTA) announced that the bureau would lose the contract it had held for decades.

Instead, a multi-year tourism marketing contract worth tens of mil lions of dollars per year was awarded to the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. It is a local not-forprofit agency whose stated mission is “to enhance the cultural, economic,

political and community develop ment of native Hawaiians.”

The narrative around the switch was that the bureau had failed to demonstrate caring for local com munity priorities and needs. Instead, it only focused on the hospitality industry’s commercial interests.

So, the bureau lost major funding because it lacked social licence, and the Council is receiving the budget because it has social licence. It is clearly focused on community pri orities and needs. It is possible that the Council may perform as well or better than the bureau at generating sustainable, socially responsible and community-appropriate tourism.

The point is that if the bureau were adequately focused on the broader interests of the community it served and had social licence, it would still be the lead marketing agency for Hawaii. Indeed, it would probably fulfil that role in close collaboration with the Council and other commu nity organisations.

How the situation in Hawaii affects the convention industry is yet to be seen. on the one hand, it is not hard to imagine that losing funding

for tourism promotion will reduce resources to support the meetings industry.

The point is that to the extent that the meetings industry is not catering to community interests and priori ties, it exists in a state of jeopardy should it ever come to be seen as a problem instead of a solution.

Turning Opportunity Cost to Oppor tunity Gained  This brings us to the second issue, which is opportunity cost. That’s a situation where failure to take advantage of an opportunity results in missing the gain of the opportunity afforded.

What opportunities could social licence bring our industry? It wouldn’t be wrong if local communi ties and governments took a genuine interest in our actions.

The “psychological association” would be very healthy and might express itself in many ways, for exam ple, new and better infrastructure, improved policies, increased funding for marketing, meetings support and subvention, enhanced support for civil society in general, and the list goes on.

“If it’s true that social licence will be a key focus for associations and destinations in the future, then we will be seeing a fundamental change in how meetings are organised”

Assuming that social licence would be a boon to our industry, how would we achieve it? The two funda mentals there in my mind are pur pose and engagement.

What is the purpose of most asso ciation meetings? Historically, the objective was primarily knowledge sharing and network development for the association’s community of interest.

For destination promoters, it was bringing in people who would spend money. Neither of those outcomes is going to be powerful drivers of social licence.

However, another trend in our industry could be a powerful driver of social licence. That trend is the growing interest and focuses on event legacy.

Again, everyone is talking about it, but we have a long way to go before event legacy becomes a core purpose of meetings rather than a contem plated after-effect.

When the industry and host desti nations become more strategic about leveraging positive impacts from meetings, they can achieve a conflu ence of interests.

Legacies can benefit all the key stakeholders. They can help advance the association’s mission and benefit

its members, and they can help build the field of interest in the host com munity. Also, they can provide meas urable benefits to local communities and help deliver positive outcomes to governmental priorities.

When all that happens, legacies can help create the “psychological association” that will drive sustain able success for a community’s civil society and meetings industry.

Anticipating Change in How Meet ings are Organised  So, if event legacy is a key purpose, what is the key to engagement?

In a sense, legacy visions are the welcome mat and engagement in the process of achieving those visions is the invitation to the party. Increas ingly associations are looking for opportunities to more meaningfully engage with the broader community in the destinations where they are meeting.

They are doing that because many of them see community awareness as an important factor in the success of their missions. Increasingly, asso ciations, local host committees and destination promoters should all be thinking creatively about ways to increase community access and involvement in their events.

As for government involvement, our industry has focused on mes sages rather than experiences. Having government officials actively involved in meetings is a much more effective way to gain their interest, confidence and support.

If it’s true that social licence will be a key focus for associations and destinations in the future, then we will be seeing a fundamental change in how meetings are organised.

That change will show up in the way host committees operate. Expect to see host committees structured to elevate their focus on legacy, govern ment, and community engagement.

If they do their work effectively, our industry can transition from disassociated to psychologically associ ated. The resulting social licence will help our industry become much stronger and more successful in the future.

Gary Grimmer is Executive Chairman of Gaining Edge, a global specialist consulting firm advising the association and business events industry.

“There’s a degree of irony here. We are talking about associations being dis-associated”

Four Countries Submit CANDIDATURE DOSSIERS TO ORGANISE WORLD EXPO 2030

The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) has received candi dature dossiers from the Republic of Korea (Busan), Italy (Rome), Ukraine (odesa) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) to organise World Expo 2030

Submitting this candidature, dos siers, and comprehensive documents detailing each Expo project is a key and compulsory step for each can didate country to enter the project examination phase of the candidature process.

Candidature dossiers outline each candidate’s vision for the Expo, including details on the planned Expo site and experience, the theme, and the planned legacy. They also lay out projections on visit numbers, financ ing and costs.

The contents of the candidature dossiers will notably serve as the basis for the work of BIE Enquiry Mis sions. The BIE Member States will use them to evaluate the interest of each Expo project, alongside the reports of the BIE Enquiry Missions and candi date presentations.

In october, the BIE’s Executive Committee had a meeting to discuss the evaluation of projects for World Expo 2030, including the organisa tion of Enquiry Missions, which are set to take place between January and March 2023

In late November, candidates can present their Expo projects to the Member States during the 171 st General Assembly of the BIE.

The Secretary General of the BIE, Dimitri S Kerkentzes:

“We will study each candidate dos sier closely to evaluate compliance with Expo rules. The theme develop ment, site plans and participant and visitor forecasts outlined in each dossier also provide the BIE Member States with a detailed vision for each World Expo project.”

The Republic of Korea’s candi dature is for a World Expo in Busan between 1 May and 31 october 2030 under the theme “Transforming our World, Navigating Toward a Better Future.”

At the end of the project examina tion phase, BIE Member States, on the

principle of one country, one vote, will elect the World Expo 2030 host country by secret ballot during the 173rd General Assembly of the BIE, set to take place in November 2023

World Expos, officially known as International Registered Exhibi tions, are global gatherings of nations addressing universal challenges of our time. These unparalleled global events offer a journey inside a chosen theme through engaging and immer sive activities.

Every five years lasting up to six months, World Expos welcome tens of millions of visitors, allow countries to build extraordinary pavilions, and transform the host city for years.

The most recent World Expo, Expo 2020 Dubai, took place under the theme “Connecting Minds, Creat ing the Future” and received over 24 million visits between 1 october 2021 and 31 March 2022

The next World Expo will take place in osaka, Kansai, Japan, in 2025 , under the theme “Designing Future Society for our Lives.”

ECONOMIC GROWTH

The African o pportunity FOR ASSOCIATIONS

TEXT Rick Taylor

Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies as well as more than half of the world’s youth population. Whilst there is pov erty in Africa, there is also a growing middle class of educated people with significant purchasing power living in large urban centres. As a region, Africa’s business environment is rela tively underdeveloped. But in recent years African business opportunities have been growing rapidly.

When referencing the impact of Covid-19 on the continent, with real GDP growth of 6 9 per cent in 2021 , the African Economic Outlook 2022 supplement by the African Development Bank reported that the enthusiasm for Africa, its people and its economy should not be underestimated.

Aside from the traditional resource-based sources of business, such as oil, gold, diamonds, coal, cocoa, coffee, tea and leather, the new generation of Africans and the grow ing middle class have created emerg ing business opportunities such as in support centres, manufacturing and processing, education, travel and tourism. The region has been at the forefront of technological advance ment in the developing world. Mobile technology continues to change Africa through wide networks that connect cities and towns with remote areas, providing internet connectivity that some believe could add US$ 300 billion per year to the GDP.

The economic growth anticipated in Africa could be quicker than most geographical areas and will demand a workforce that is skilled, determined, innovative, passionate and able to think critically. And these young professionals are hungry for educa tion and upskilling to meet the needs of investors and businesses as they expand throughout Africa.

With more and more associations looking to grow their networks, the continent provides an opportunity for greater global engagement that addresses the needs of this new gen eration of professionals. Associations that create, facilitate, empower and add value to their networks will likely remain more relevant to the realities of the new marketplace.

An active and growing associa tion market in Africa is supported by expert organisations launched in recent years, such as the African Association Management Company and the African Society of Associa tion Executives, which has just hosted the 4th Africa Association Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. The theme of the September 2022 summit was Power of Associations – Connect, Collaborate, Change Africa

The sustainable socio-economic transformation and the legacy bene fits to communities, cities and coun tries resulting from hosting business events are well understood in Africa. They are powerful motivators across stakeholders that will open up new

funding sources. And whilst creating connections with people is essential, Africans consider it a valuable way of building a business relationship.

The emerging opportunities in areas such as the African Continen tal Free Trade Area, open Skies for Africa Agreement and the Africa Agenda 2063 , among others, are examples of some of the positive steps that will support increasing the cur rent three per cent of global associa tion meetings that take place on the continent annually.

The countries to watch with the fastest-growing economies are Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Mozam bique. South Africa and Nigeria are the two largest powerhouse econo mies on the continent.

As an African living and work ing in Africa, I am convinced of the potential for business in Africa. The continent is dynamic, optimistic and poised for strong diversifica tion, industrialisation and economic growth, making it an attractive growth opportunity market for asso ciations and business events.

The Business Tourism Company is an interna tional African-based consultancy. CEO Rick Taylor is the strategic architect behind eight National Convention Bureaus in Africa and has delivered more than 100 diverse tourism projects across Africa and internationally.

Business Travel Spending Up, BUT FULL RECOVERY NOT EXPECTED UNTIL 2026

According to the latest 2022 GBTA Business Travel Index Outlook, Annual Global Report and Forecast (BTI), the global business travel industry continues its progress towards full recovery to 2019 prepan demic spending levels of $1 .4 trillion. But recovery has hit some headwinds. While Covid-related recovery conditions have improved, many macroeconomic conditions deterio rated rapidly in early 2022 . These new developments are impacting the timing, trajectory and pace of busi ness travel’s recovery globally and by region, pushing the forecast for full recovery into 2026 instead of 2024 as previously forecasted.

Unveiled at the 2022 GBTA Con vention in San Diego, the GBTA BTI is an annual exhaustive study of busi ness travel spending and growth cov ering 73 countries and 44 industries. Now in its 14th edition, this latest report outlines the top-level outlook

for global business travel from 2022 to 2026

The previous BTI released in November 2021 predicted a surge in global business travel spending in 2022 , reaching full recovery to the $1 .4 trillion prepandemic mark by 2024 .

Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA: “To understand the headwinds that have been impacting a more accelerated recovery for global business travel, all you have to do is look at the news headlines since the beginning of 2022

“The factors impacting many industries worldwide are also antici pated to impact global business travel recovery into 2025 . The forecasted result is we’ll get close, but we won’t reach and exceed 2019’s prepandemic levels until 2026 .”

The 2022 BTI also reveals insights from GBTA’s recent surveys of global finance executives and business

travellers. Additionally, it explores new and transformative factors in international business travel in sustainability, workforce dynamics (including remote work and blended travel or ‘bleisure’), and technology adoption.

According to the latest BTI outlook, total spending on global business travel reached $697 bil lion in 2021 , 5 .5 per cent above the pandemic-era low of 2020.

Last year was nearly as challeng ing as 2020 for the global business travel industry, as it sought to carve out a “normal” following the Covid-19 pandemic. The sector gained back roughly $36 billion of the $770 billion lost in 2020

Recovery was short-circuited by the omicron variant and the spike in global Covid cases in late 2021 and early 2022 . As case numbers began to retreat, business travel surged.

Global business travel spend ing in 2022 is expected to advance 34 per cent over 2021 levels to $933 billion, recovering to 65 per cent of prepandemic levels.

Recovery in 2022 was dependent upon and has been primarily driven by improvement in the four factors of global business travel recovery. The global vaccination effort, national travel policies, business traveller

to the war in Ukraine, and emerging sustainability considerations.

overall, global business travel spending is expected to gain 33 .8 per cent in 2022 . However, dif ferences are anticipated across the world’s top business travel markets.

The timing and pace of the recov ery will continue to vary significantly from one region of the world to the next, as evidenced in 2021

Business travel spending in Latin America grew modestly in 2021 as the vaccination effort got off to a slower start. While there may be challenges in this region over the next few years, 55 per cent growth in spend in Latin America is forecast for this year as business travel recovers to 83 per cent of prepandemic totals.

In July 2022 , GBTA surveyed over 400 frequent business travellers and nearly four dozen executive travel budget decision-makers across four global regions. The overall sentiment is positive but also confirms Covid concerns are taking a back seat to current macroeconomic and geopo litical issues.

ƒ

sentiment, and travel manage ment policy, where conditions have improved significantly in the last six months.

However, deteriorating economic conditions and shifting secular trends in 2022 have slowed global recovery. Hence, international business travel will almost reach prepandemic levels in 2025 , reaching $1 .39 trillion.

Global spending is not expected to go back to the 1 .4 trillion dollar mark until mid-2026 , when it is forecast to reach 1 .47 trillion dollars.

It adds an estimated 18 months to the industry’s recovery than was forecast in the previous GBTA Busi ness Travel Index released in Novem ber 2021

The 2022 BTI finds that persistent inflation is the biggest obstacle to accelerated global business travel recovery. For example, high energy prices, severe supply chain challenges and labour shortages, a significant economic slowdown and lockdowns in China, major regional impacts due

North America’s recovery in 2021 was driven mainly by rapidly return ing domestic travel. Western Europe was the region that saw spend ing declines last year as Covid-19 impacted its domestic and regional business travel market.

Both regions are expected to expe rience the sharpest recoveries with compound annual growth increases of 23 .4 per cent (to $363 .7 billion) and 16 .9 per cent (to $323 .9 billion), respectively, by 2026 .

The Asia Pacific helped lead the industry in terms of recovery of spending in 2021 , particularly in China. It reversed in 2022 , as China’s Zero-Covid policy led to wide-scale lockdowns and other countries in the region only slowly opened up.

For 2022 , a solid increase of 16 5 per cent (or $407 1 billion) in spending is expected in APAC (held back by China at 5 .6 per cent, or $286 .9 billion), with the region recov ering to 66 per cent of prepandemic levels by the end of 2022 .

Eighty-five per cent of business travellers surveyed said they need to travel to accomplish their business goals. over three-fourths said they expect to travel for work more or much more in 2023 than they did in 2022

ƒ

Eighty-four per cent of senior global corporate finance profes sionals voiced confidence their travel spending would somewhat or significantly increase in 2023 compared to 2022

.

ƒ

Seventy-three per cent of busi ness travellers and 38 of 44 senior global financial executives agree inflation/rising prices will impact travel volumes.

ƒ

Sixty-nine per cent of business travellers and 33 of 44 global financial executives are concerned a possible recession will impact travel, and 68 per cent of business travellers and 36 of 44 financial executives expect Covid infec tion rates and variants to have an impact on their trip.

Source: GBTA

“Persistent inflation is the biggest obstacle to accelerated global business travel recovery”

A Time TO REFLECT Excerpt from the book Business Events Legacies

by Carmel Foley, Deborah Edwards and Karin Weber

In 2020–2021 the business events industry, like many others, was challenged by the lockdowns, travel bans, and social distancing restric tions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mass gatherings of all kinds were cancelled, postponed or disrupted in destinations around the world and event industry professionals found themselves scrambling to imple ment new technologies capable of delivering virtual adaptations of the in-person meetings and conferences they had planned.

Given the circumstances and the speed with which they had to pivot, what was achieved was remarkable, and at least some degree of connectiv ity was achieved.

However, whilst most agree that virtual events are better than nothing, there is also broad consensus that the energy, inspiration and atmosphere generated by like-minded people gathering together physically at meetings and conferences was missed (Edwards et al., 2020).

As vaccines and greater immunity slow the spread of the virus, faceto-face business events will almost certainly resume because, as humans and as professionals, we are drawn to gather with our peers. The small talk with strangers that goes on as delegates wait in the registration queue will again lead to friendships, networks and partnerships.

The casual conversations over lunch will again spark inspirational

ideas and solutions to problems. And the serendipitous introductions made during predinner drinks will once again lead to funding opportunities that talented researchers had never dreamed possible.

The networking and interac tion that occurs at in-person busi ness events is very hard to achieve online. However, virtual events do have their merits. They are generally more accessible in terms of mobility, finance and time.

They don’t involve jet lag for longhaul passengers, and they offer easier access for those not able or willing to travel.

The carbon footprint of virtual attendance is better for the planet, registration fees are lower and there is no need to pay for accommodation.

Essentially, more people may be able to attend more events more often if they are offered virtually. Because of this, the world will emerge from the pandemic period with a ‘new normal’ for business events, with many more virtual and hybrid options being available to delegates than in the past.

However, it may well be that the new ‘normal’ for such events will mean fewer hotel rooms and cups of coffee consumed by delegates. This could prove challenging for an industry which has etched out its worth and value using such measures.

So, as the events industry takes stock of what it has learned in recent times and reconfigures itself to

account for this new normal, it may also be timely to consider whether there is need for an entirely differ ent approach to the way business events are conceptualised, leveraged, planned, delivered, studied and evalu ated in the future.

The impetus for this book began over a decade ago when the authors began investigating whether confer ences and business events created benefits Introduction and legacies beyond those related to tourism (Foley et al., 2010 ; Foley et al., 2013).

Early studies suggested they did, and research tools were developed to identify just what those benefits were, how frequently they occurred and what impacts they generated (Edwards et al., 2011 ; Foley et al., 2014 ; Edwards et al., 2016 ; Edwards et al., 2017).

The product of their research, along with the works of others (for example, Jago & Deery, 2012 ; Hansen et al., 2020), is prompting a shift in attitudes as industry leaders recog nise that defining the success of a business event in terms of simply a tourism contribution limits its poten tial value.

As competition for public funding, potential delegates’ time and other resources increases, the higher the value proposition a business event can demonstrate, the more likely it will be sustainable and successful over the long term.

It also follows that by identify ing, planning for, and achieving the

REFLECTIONS

broadest possible range of social, economic, environmental, political and knowledge-based benefits from business events, the more sustain able, resilient and successful the industry itself will become.

The tourism/events partnership  For decades, business event profession als and governments have operated under the narrow assumption that

these areas and understood the link ages and relationships between them.

Tourism and then events soon emerged as scholarly fields in their own right at a time when both indus tries were becoming important to destination economies.

However, there were those who challenged the worth, legitimacy and long-term career potential that would come from these new industries.

the tourism industry evolved, where events were seen as an effective strategy for boosting visitation and tourism expenditure at host destina tions, and tourism expenditure at host destinations was used both as a way of garnering local support and investment in events and as a tan gible way of measuring the event’s successfulness.

In this way, the events industry became very much linked with the visitor economy, and management and support for events became the responsibility of destination man agers and ministers with tourism portfolios.

Business events, in particular, brought high-spending tourists and were seen as being particularly ben eficial for local economies.

event legacies are best measured by their tourism contribution (Dwyer et al., 2016 ; Foley et al., 2013).

But how did the value and worth of business events become so inextri cably tied to tourism generation and expenditure? In very simple terms, it was a matter of ‘right place; right time’.

Tourism (travelling) and events (gatherings which connect people and communities) have always been important aspects of human behaviour.

However, it wasn’t until the latter decades of the 20 th century, with growth in both the public provision and commercialisation of leisure, that a small number of Western universi ties began offering relevant diplomas and, subsequently, degrees.

These were initially leisure studies degrees, which covered multiple areas (recreation, sport, tourism, hospital ity and events).

This meant graduates had knowl edge and professional skills in each of

They questioned why one needed a degree to be able to manage tourism and events and whether the contribu tions graduates could make to society warranted the tertiary education resources being invested in them. Given these challenges, the develop ing industries recognised the impor tance of being able to justify their existence.

Those in the field knew there were countless social and cultural ben efits that involvement in event and tourism activities could bring, but what was needed in the neo-liberal managerial environment that charac terised the era was measurable, tangi ble data that could be used to defend the legitimacy of what they did.

In terms of events, one impor tant measurable and indisputable characteristic was the contribution they made to destinations in terms of injecting new money into economies as a result of direct tourism spending.

Consequently, a somewhat symbi otic relationship between events and

Decision-makers, particularly those in government, like hard numbers, and measuring increases in expenditure associated with an event is relatively easy to report in hard numbers.

Methodologies for measuring tourist expenditure were developed, adapted, critiqued and modified over time and the tourism-related economic benefits a business event could generate soon became the most important focus of both bid planning and post-event evaluation.

However, the premise of this book is that the tourism contribution for host destinations is merely the tip of the iceberg when compared with the other benefits that business events generate.

It is also argued that this nar row focus on short-term tourism expenditure has seriously limited our understanding of the many rich legacies such events have the capac ity to deliver, and the development of research, planning and management tools and strategies to identify, track and maximise those legacies.

“This narrow focus on short-term tourism expenditure has seriously limited our understanding of the many rich legacies such events have the capacity to deliver”

Case studies referred to in the book

Thomas Trøst Hansen International Research Conferences: The Academic Impact, Aalborg University and Wonderful Copen hagen (see Hansen, 2018).

Andrew Gambina, Johanna Hagström and André Petzold Knowledge Sharing and Organisational Development Through the 2017 Euroheartcare Conference. Jönköping University and Destination Jönköping (see Gambina et al., 2018).

Miriam Scaglione and Simone Dimitriou . Zoom-in on the firstever Swiss Fintech Corner. University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland Valais (see Scaglione & Dimitriou, 2018).

Manisa Mohamed Nor The Sustainability of the Business Events Industry in Malaysia: Leveraging Inter-Organisational Collabora tion for the 55th ICCA Congress. Malaysia Convention & Exhibi tion Bureau and MyCEB Congress Malaysia (see Mohamed Nor, 2017).

Gaining Edge Legacies from ICCA Congress 2016 Kuch ing Sarawak: How Hosting ICCA 2016 Impacted Our Future Business Events Sarawak and Borneo Convention Centre (see Gaining Edge, 2020).

Amandine Thiebault . London Tech Week. London & Partners (see Thiebault, 2018).

Hilary du Cros, Carmel Foley, Deborah Edwards and Anja Hergesell Catalysts for Thriving Economies. University of Tech nology Sydney and Business Events Sydney (see du Cross et al., 2017).

Carmel Foley, Deborah Edwards, Bron Harrison and Anja Hergesell ICC Sydney: Feeding Your Performance. University of Technology Sydney and ICC Sydney (see Foley et al., 2019 a).

María José Alvez, Irene Sinigaglia, Alanis Lourdes and Gus tavo Perrier 11 th China-LAC Business Summit 2018 . Punta del Este Convention & Exhibition Center, Uruguay XXI , Grupo Elis and Arquitectura Promocional (see Alvez et al., 2019).

Most governments perpetuate the undervaluing of business events with reporting requirements that are largely limited to metrics around the tourism contribution generated by congresses, conferences, symposi ums, exhibitions and trade shows, and the convention bureaux and venues that support them.

Most often located in the tourism portfolios of government ministries, business event bureaux and conven tion centres have focused their ener gies and resources for far too long on maximising the tourist dollars generated by business events while ignoring the significant scientific, social, research and long-term eco nomic value on offer; value that has the potential to benefit communities around the world by directly driving development, creativity, partnerships and innovation.

But with the business event industry now well established, it is time for event bidding, planning, execution and evaluation to go well beyond this rationale.

over recent years, event industry leaders have begun recognising the broader impacts and legacies events can generate, well beyond visitor expenditure (see Business Events Sydney, 2021 ; ICC Sydney, 2021 ; JMIC, 2021 ; The Iceberg, 2021).

Leading researchers, including the contributors to this book, have investigated, measured and reported on the extensive legacies of business events beyond tourism spend.

Looking ahead  This book seeks to contribute to the existing research on business event outcomes and to help inform discussion about the future of the industry. It includes abridged ver sions of the case studies listed above.

These case studies, drawn from destinations around the world, were developed in order to capture data on the outcomes and legacies (in addition to tourism) generated by selected business events.

Each chapter introduces one case study and provides theoretical discus sion on some of the relevant issues

raised. The case studies are all very different in nature and are drawn from different types of business events; some large and some small.

The studies relate to conferences, trade shows and meetings at universi ties from around the world.

Some are based in capital or major cities (London, Sydney, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Geneva) and others in regional destinations (Jonkoping, Sweden; Kuching, Malaysia; Punta del Este, Uruguay).

Some of the perspectives pre sented are those of destination managers and convention bureau staff, some are from delegates and some belong to conference hosts/ organisers.

The case studies are presented in no particular order. Rather we invite the reader to start with whichever chapter is of most interest to them.

o pen Data

A KEY TO FUTURE-PROOF BUSINESS EVENTS

Business events are undergoing a major transformation process. While events have constantly evolved in line with societal developments, recent years have seen unprecedented change. Rapid technological progress, the increasingly noticeable effects of climate change, international con flicts and the consequences of the pandemic show that there can be no “back to square one.” This very fact, however, opens up enormous poten tial for all stakeholders in the busi ness event industry.

Business Events as a Driving Force  Business events are not just the object of transformation, or even at its mercy, but also contribute significantly to solving the complex challenges of our time.

With the wide range of content they deliver to audiences, they can become a driving force for addressing many problems in business, society and politics.

Together with their sector’s stake holders, Germany can, in this context, play a key role due to the country‘s

international standing as a business events destination.

In purely quantitative terms, Germany has consistently ranked among the top international meeting destinations for many years. Accord ing to IPK International, Germany was again the most popular business travel destination for Europeans in 2021 , with just under half of these 4 .5 million trips being business events.

Globally, too, no country attracts more business-related trips than Germany. However, maintaining and increasing these valuable market shares for the future requires ongoing development in a fast-moving com petitive environment with changing customer needs.

Against this background, let’s focus on digital transformation as one of the megatrends shaping the change of business events and discuss the corresponding necessity of system atic data management.

AI in the business events sector  Chatbots supporting the book ing process, public transport routes

adapted to passenger preferences or self-check-in at events, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) around business events is not a question of if but of when and how

A possible future scenario could be a Smart Meeting Assistant (SMA), just as the German Convention Bureau (GCB) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO identi fied in their study on the platform economy.

This Smart Meeting Assistant, powered by sophisticated AI, could support event planners throughout the entire customer journey, from the initial idea and event development to evaluating attendee data post-event.

Whatever might ultimately hap pen with AI in business events, be it the implementation of SMAs or other tools that we can currently not even fathom, there is one fundamental truth.

The use of AI is not and can never be an end in itself. Still, it always serves to fulfil customers’ needs as best as possible, to improve their user experiences and, therefore,

to align the marketing of products and services accordingly. The key to achieving this goal lies in digital data management.

Seamless business events instead of data patchwork  Trivial but true: AI applications need data. Lots of it.

infrastructure, including open data, can address this issue.

For the products and services of German business event provid ers to be found and processed in the future at as many digital touch points as possible, as well as across different output channels, they

valuable market shares in internatio nal competition.

Also, it saves time for service pro viders to manage their data and keep it up-to-date. open data is a basis for innovative applications and services that can generate significant added value for event planners.

Human input indispensable  The above does not mean open data and AI will make human interaction obso lete. In fact, the opposite is true:

When it comes to digital data management and AI, it is, therefore, crucial to breaking down data and application silos to provide users, such as event planners or attendees, with the desired correct information quickly and in a structured, up-todate and personalised way. Con nected data plays a vital role in this context.

A simple example shows why: planning to attend an event usually consists of a large number of indi vidual steps, including booking train/ plane tickets and accommodation as well as checking the weather, possibly researching taxi services, the loca tions of rental bikes or e-scooters, local restaurants, the event pro gramme, safety and hygiene precau tions and so on.

Currently, this requires many applications, which present users with a patchwork scenario instead of a “seamless business events” experi ence, as each application manages its data.

Sophisticated data infrastructure  A high-quality data

must be machine-readable and meet specific requirements. For example, they must be available in a uniform manner.

It provides the basis for efficiently using the possibilities of digital technologies, such as AI, to market products and services. The relation ships between different data can be displayed and delivered via semantic queries by linking the data in a knowl edge graph.

Open data for Germany’s meetings market  The German National Tourist Board is currently implementing its open Data in Tourism project with regional tourist boards and the Magic Cities tourism initiative.

Led by the GCB German Conven tion Bureau, the country’s business events industry will link up with this project to map its offers as compre hensively as possible in open data and bundle them in a knowledge graph.

It will make offers more accessible and interlinked for complex queries. open data is key for achieving greater visibility and reach for Germany as a meeting destination to secure

“Digitalisation is ultimately all about people. AI is an opportunity to reach people even more quickly, to delve deeper into the reasons that drive their wishes and requirements. Furthermore, to use mass-custom ised services to achieve a new level of customer satisfaction”, says Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of the Board of the German National Tourist Board, in her introduction to a GNTB magazine on AI

Platform economy applications, highly developed AI or open data projects require that employees have comprehensive digital skills. How ever, at the same time, they enable saving time and energy and using resources more effectively. Digitali sation and automation do not mean that the people business of events becomes an IT business.

Technology supports people in focusing on what matters and fulfill ing those tasks that no AI system will be able to take over in the foresee able future, for example, providing personalised advice, taking care of guests or initiating creative processes for engaging events in authentic surroundings.

Further information available on: opendata.gcb.de

“Digitalisation and automation do not mean that the people business of events becomes an IT business”

Nine Insights FOR THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS TRAVEL

The new ecosystem of business events is characterised by digital and hybrid formats as much as by the longing for authentic locations, emotional experiences, and sustain able concepts.

People’s motivations shift when deciding whether to attend an event physically or not.

Future Meeting Space’s (FMS) latest research radar, powered by a Response Room challenge earlier this year, looks at global studies, reports and articles on the future of business events and business travel.

Since the start of the Corona pandemic, countless studies have been published in this field. The FMS innovation network has taken on the task of sifting through many of these existing studies to record the gained

insights and identify any research gaps that still exist.

Based on topics such as general travel trends, evaluated effects of the pandemic, motivation of event attendance, or sustainable mobility, the status quo and white spots for the future event market were evaluated in over 80 studies.

Across these studies, nine con crete hypotheses can be derived, and they serve as a keystone for evidencebased forecasts of future changes.

1 Sustainability Affects Mobility Behaviour Resource and emission savings will be essential criteria for specific travel planning.

The study data also show that companies are already responding to

climate change and are increasingly replacing air travel with train travel.

The younger generation, in par ticular, attaches great importance to an environmentally conscious life style and therefore prefers post-fossil mobility.

4Personal Security and Health Are Paramount

The Corona pandemic has increased the focus on physical and mental health.

All-encompassing hygiene con cepts, in particular, are taken for

will continue even after the pan demic. Seventy-six per cent of the companies surveyed favour hybrid models in the long term, always weighing up factors such as travel expenses, sustainability, and security risks.

Therefore, new business models can expect to emerge in the travel segment, for example, travel in the metaverse.

7 Expenditure on Business Travel Declines

Since the pandemic started, there has been a decline in travel, the number of travellers, and travelrelated spending.

2Emotional Experiences Will Become USP s for Physical Events

The travel experience and the emo tional experience are closely inter twined. on the one hand, travelling promotes shared experiences; on the other hand, it supports maintaining and developing relationships.

Events will therefore continue to provide spaces for unexpected and spontaneous interactions and leave a lasting impression on participants.

3Bleisure Travel Will Become an Integral Part of the Work ing World

Combining work-related travel and leisure tourism is becoming increas ingly lucrative for employees and will shape corporate organisations and the hotel industry.

Eighty-four per cent of those under the age of 40 use this option and extend business trips for sight seeing, weekend stays with family and friends, and visiting relatives, among other things.

granted when participating in live events. For one-third of the survey respondents, their health and safety are paramount.

If these aspects are not consid ered, participants will increasingly switch to virtual event attendance in the future.

5Personalised and Digitised Customer Journeys Will Gain in Importance

Platforms enhancing the travel experience will become even more important in the future, especially for facilitating booking processes or improving socialising opportunities.

The digitised customer journey will also play a role in the context of augmented reality, for example, to provide orientation at the airport, to receive delays via smartphone, or as a full-body scanner.

Hybrid Formats Promote More Conscious Travel

The trend toward hybrid events with more digital elements

The example from the study The Future of Business Travel shows that respondents expect the busi ness travel budget in 2025 to be only 70 per cent of what it was in 2019

8 New Mobility Trends Are Changing the Choice of Transportation Mode

The future means of transportation will be green, flexible, and efficient. Trends such as shared mobility will play an important role, especially in mobile working.

The Mobility Zeitgeist Study shows that every other person would like to see more offers that make mobile working on the move possible and more feasible in terms of transport.

In addition, multimodal mobility chains will be a central component of business travel, for example link ing train travel, e-scooters and the automobile.

Young Generations Focus on Green Mobility

Business travel plays a signifi cant role for Generation Z, especially in light of the “War of Talents.” In this context, business travel design expresses a company’s values.

9

“Combining work-related travel and leisure tourism is becoming increasingly lucrative for employees”

For younger generations, sustaina bility and climate protection are fundamental, and they do not only advocate sustainable travel in their private lives but also demand it in a business context.

Conclusion on the one hand, the evaluated studies reveal starting points for the future event industry, but on the other hand, they also show that there are still numerous white spots: based on the results.

Three main topics that have not been examined in detail yet and for which meaningful data are lacking can be identified:

ƒ First , travel motivations for postpandemic travel. Data on this are sketchy, and it remains unclear why business travel will continue to be an essential part of the office and work environment and what reasons will drive people to travel in the New Now.

ƒ Second, cluster analysis is lack ing to represent different travel typologies. It raises the question of how you can group people into travel typologies and the differ ences resulting in their travel motivations and behaviours.

ƒ Third, there is a lack of studies on the importance of business travel for Gen Z or concrete business travel models that motivate the young generation to travel.

Future Meeting Space’s current 2022 research phase looks at these white spots precisely.

The central questions are: Why, in what form, and how often will people attend physical events in the future, and what added value will they get from it?

The research process will result in different travel typologies, destina tion promises, and stakeholder action recommendations.

If you want to learn more about the stud ies included in this research radar, have a look at Future Meeting Space’s Response Room innovation challenge Business Events: Global Research Review and Identification of White Spots on responseroom.io/global/ future-meeting-space-research-phase-vredefining-event-attendance-motivationsand-travel-patterns-in-a-hybrid-world.

“New business models can expect to emerge in the travel segment, for example, travel in the metaverse”

South Korea: Business Event Companies ARE ACCELERATING INVESTMENT IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

TEXT Professor Eunjoo Yoon

The meeting and event industry in Korea has recovered a lot in 2022 . For example the Seoul con vention centre Coex has recovered 95 per cent of its 2019 perfor mance. And Kintex, the largest convention and exhibition centre in Korea, is said to have recovered to 70 per cent.

There are still cases where the scale of the event has been reduced. But there are very few events that have been cancelled or postponed. Conventions and meetings are rarely cancelled compared to exhibitions, and most are held hybrid or online.

According to a survey of 114 international conference organ isers conducted by the Korea Tourism organization earlier this year, 87 5 per cent of the respond ents said they would hold the event in hybrid or online form in 2021 .

According to the same survey, the question of future meeting

types rendered a similar response, with 44 8 per cent choosing offline and 45 8 per cent hybrid events. If Covid-19 continued, the response was 21 per cent offline, 24 per cent online, and 55 per cent hybrid.

And if Covid-19 completely ended, the response was 60 per cent offline, 2 per cent online, and 38 per cent hybrid, proving that organisers cannot overlook the convenience of a hybrid event.

Many Korean meeting and event companies are accelerating investment for digital transforma tion, so some PCOs develop and operate conference operation platforms or use them as revenue models. They use technology to pivot by creating new revenue models.

For example, in the case of a human resources agency, a plat form that can manage education, career management, and recruit ment is developed as a human

resource recruitment platform. And a convention operation col laboration tool app is designed to improve employee work efficiency, a form of franchising in the future.

Furthermore, some companies are planning to expand their busi ness. Covid-19 has also allowed the industry to think about new business models.

The most notable company is o2 Meet, a convention and exhibi tion operation platform created by EZpmp (a traditional PCO). This service allows users to configure menus freely for various operat ing programs by providing a stable server service for online and hybrid event operations.

Several large-scale government events have already been operated safely using this platform, which will soon serve as the metaverse meeting and event solution platform.

In Korea, the government-led project to develop metaverse

technology that can apply to conven tions and exhibitions is underway. The project is to support the advance ment of technology for specific events on the metaverse. The development of services that can use the conven tion centre as a metaverse will start in 2022 and will be supported for three to five years.

As we all know, conventions and exhibitions are crucial for the event’s success and the ripple effect on

and participants and suggests action strategies.

of course, the contents of the environment and social areas were developed intensively. Still, these practices are expected to change the perception of participating in offline events rather than online.

Jeju Convention Bureau has prepared a manual, Guidelines for hosting green MICE events, to protect the environment and save resources

After the Korea Tourism organi zation and other regional tourism organisations were interested in special venues, discovered them, and gave operators several briefing ses sions on the business event industry, privately operated venues started to open their facilities for business events.

After the election of a new presi dent in May, the Blue House, the presidential office of the Republic of Korea, moved to a new location and opened the existing Blue House site to the public.

This new venue will be open for business events. The encouraging thing is that Gucci has allowed the Gucci Cosmogonie fashion show to be held at Gyongbokkung Palace, a royal palace located in Seoul.

the host city. For this reason, local governments and city convention bureaus have put much effort into attracting international events to Korea.

If a significant number of busi ness events are held online or hybrid, local convention centres and vari ous infrastructures will be affected, so how to solve this problem is also being discussed.

The essential thing in this process is to develop offline services that appeal to the MZ generation, the pri mary consumers who will participate in future conventions and exhibi tions. The young MZ generation is more interested in the environment and justification than anyone else.

The Korea Tourism organization has prepared guidelines for environ mental, social and governance (ESG) practice. It develops actionable items for convention centres, convention bureaus, international conference planning companies, organisers,

to return the benefits to the local community.

This manual is provided in four parts for organisers, participants, exhibitors, and convention centres. Eco-friendliness is a major task of business events and is one of the Key Performance Indexes.

Another project receiving much attention is discovering and introduc ing special venues for various expe riences. Existing conventions and exhibitions were held in convention centres or hotels, which limited the participant’s local experience.

In contrast to many countries and cities already using botanical gardens, zoos, parks, palaces, and museums, even though Korea has several unique venues, people with venues do not recognise that they could use these places for conventions and exhibi tions. Museums and palaces had many restrictions on their use as managed by the Korea Cultural Herit age Administration.

For reference, Seoul is attracting attention as a fashion show venue for global high-end fashion brands such as Chanel, Fendi, and Dior.

Business events are facing various industrial changes such as Covid-19, digital transformation, and genera tional shifts to the MZ generation. Korean companies are continuously attempting to use the crisis as an opportunity.

Korea will continue to pursue glo balisation and convergence between industries to maintain competitive ness in the meeting and event market. I hope you will be interested in the digital transformation of the environ mental, social and governance (ESG) practice of Korean business events.

Environmental, social and govern ance (ESG) represents an organisa tion’s corporate financial interests, focusing mainly on sustainable and ethical impacts. Capital markets use ESG to evaluate organisations and determine future financial performance.

“The government-led project to develop metaverse technology that can be applied to conventions and exhibitions is underway”

Global Construction of Hotels IN 2023: 2,658 NEW HOTELS ARE EXPECTED TO OPEN

Lodging Econometrics (LE) has released its bi-annual Global Con struction Pipeline Trend Report, which compiles the construction pipeline counts for every country and market worldwide.

In the Q2 2022 report, LE ana lysts state that the total global con struction pipeline stands at 14 ,117 projects/2 ,293 ,131 rooms, up five per cent by projects and two per cent by rooms year-over-year (YOY). There are 6 ,074 projects/1 ,110,174 rooms currently under construction at the Q2 close.

Projects scheduled to start con struction in the next 12 months, at 3 ,664 projects/525 ,096 rooms, are up one per cent by projects YOY and unchanged by rooms.

Projects in early planning reached record-high project and room counts of 4 ,379 projects/657,861 rooms, up 22 per cent by projects and 13 per cent by rooms YOY

Conversions in the global hotel construction pipeline reached new highs in Q2 , with 1 ,672 pro jects/206 ,355 rooms.

At the end of the second quarter, the top countries by project count are the United States, with 5 ,220 projects/621 ,268 rooms and China, with a current pipeline of 3 ,693 pro jects/701 ,974 rooms.

The U.S. accounts for 37 per cent of projects in the global construction pipeline. In comparison, China has 26 per cent, resulting in 63 per cent of all international projects being con centrated in these two countries.

Distantly following are India, with 339 projects/42 ,548 rooms; the United Kingdom, with 309 pro jects/46 ,296 rooms; and Indonesia, with 284 projects/45 ,359 rooms.

Across the globe, the markets with the largest pipelines by project counts are Dallas, TX, with 173 pro jects/20,707 rooms, Chengdu, China, with 141 projects/28 ,573 rooms; and Atlanta, GA, with 140 projects/18 ,131 rooms. Shanghai, China, follows with 128 projects/25 ,200 rooms, and then Los Angeles, CA, with 124 pro jects/20,365 rooms.

The leading franchise company in the global construction pipeline

is Hilton Worldwide, with 2 ,596 projects/379,818 rooms. Marriott International follows closely with 2 ,533 projects/421 ,613 rooms. Next is Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), with 1 ,687 projects/247,310 rooms, and Accor, with 894 projects/155 ,577 rooms. These four franchise com panies account for 55 per cent of all projects in the pipeline.

Brands leading the pipeline for each of these companies are Hampton by Hilton with 768 projects/100,732 rooms; Fairfield Inn with 343 pro jects/42 ,113 rooms; Holiday Inn Express with 610 projects/76 ,991 rooms; and Ibis by Accor with 250 projects/32 ,362 rooms.

The first half of 2022 saw 803 new hotels/121 ,029 rooms open worldwide, with an additional 1 ,653 hotels/244 ,956 rooms scheduled to open by year-end.

In 2023 , 2 ,658 new hotel open ings/416 ,640 rooms are expected to open. And for 2024 , Lodging Econo metrics forecasts 2 ,786 new hotels, accounting for 435 ,870 rooms, to open worldwide.

Dubai Winning Bids for 99 MAJOR GLOBAL BUSINESS EVENTS

Dubai consolidates its position as a leading destination for internatio nal business events in the first half of 2022 , winning bids for 99 major con ferences, congresses, incentive travel programmes and other meetings over the forthcoming years.

These wins underscore Dubai’s compelling business proposition, including its strong track record in hosting large-scale international events and as a platform for network ing and knowledge-sharing.

over the first six months of 2022 , Dubai Business Events (DBE), Dubai’s official convention bureau, collabo rated with stakeholders across the emirate and the wider UAE to register 99 successful bid wins.

These events are set to attract more than 77,000 delegates and yield over 330,000 hotel room nights over

the coming years. In line with the strategic priority placed on securing business events, these bid wins are set to boost Dubai’s events, hospital ity and related tourism sectors in addition to advancing the broader economy by bringing expertise and knowledge from around the world.

“Business events will continue to be a priority, building on the Expo 2020 Dubai legacy and Dubai’s status as a destination where the world can come together,” says Ahmed Al Khaja, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment.

Dubai Business Events submit ted 200 bids and proposals for international business events in H1 2022 , with several bids yet to be determined.

Dubai’s event wins in 2022 so far include the International Congress of

the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (2023), IFOS ENT World Congress (2023), Congress of the Asia Pacific Orthopaedic Association (2024) and International Congress of Endocrinology (2024).

In addition, key corporate events and incentive travel programmes to be hosted in Dubai include Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries’ Annual Convention and Incentive (2022) and IBM Best in Tech (2023).

“The success of our bidding activity in the first half of 2022 demonstrates Dubai’s strong proposi tion to associations, corporates and other organisations worldwide,” says Ahmed Al Khaja.

“our bids build on the track record the city has established in provid ing a respected and attractive plat form for the sharing of knowledge,

professional development and net working. With several international associations bringing their flagship events to Dubai, the city will be at the heart of global conversations and development around key sectors and areas of innovation.”

Bidding activity through the first six months was driven by the collabo rative approach taken by Dubai Busi

“The city’s success in attracting major events is driven by the collabo rative approach taken by stakehold ers across the sector and the wider economy.

“Building on the city’s strong rebound in the wake of the global pandemic and the lead it took in resuming tourism and events, we continue to see a strong response

allow planners to see the destination and its capabilities first-hand. Dubai Business Events will also lead strong delegations of industry partners to major trade shows, including IMEX America (Las Vegas) and IBTM World (Barcelona).

Dubai Business Events continues to leverage key international partner ships and industry collaborations globally to elevate the city’s position as a global business events hub.

It means including its member ship and activities with the Best Cities Global Alliance, the Internatio nal Congress and Convention Asso ciation, the International Association of Professional Congress organisers and the Global Association Hubs Partnership.

ness Events in working with partners across the public and private sectors, including government departments, local associations and societies, universities and other institutions, as well as business events stakeholders, including venues, hotels, destination management companies and profes sional congress organisers.

The success of Expo 2020 Dubai provided a platform to showcase the city to decision-makers, conclusively demonstrating Dubai’s ability to effectively host events of all sizes and meet the demands of an international audience.

Dubai Business Events hosted several delegations during the Expo and throughout the H1 while also interacting with executives from global planners and associations. In addition, DBE undertook roadshows and networked through its presence at industry events and trade shows, such as Imex Frankfurt.

Steen Jakobsen, Associate Vice President, Dubai Business Events:

from meeting planners and decisionmakers in bringing international business events to Dubai.

“During the rest of 2022 , we will highlight the power of in-person busi ness events and Dubai’s strong value proposition to associations execu tives, corporate meeting planners and other decision-makers. And we continue to welcome opportunities to work with stakeholders to identify and bid for events that align with our strategic objectives.”

Dubai Business Events will build on the successful performance recorded in H1 2022 with an intense engagement period, meeting planners and association executives during the rest of the year.

Sales missions across key cities in Europe, Latin America and Israel will see DBE and its stakeholders meet planners in their markets and explain Dubai’s compelling propositions.

Meanwhile, inbound study mis sions from Japan and Korea, South East Asia, and North America will

As a founding partner of the Dubai Association Centre, DBE is also engag ing with associations’ executives and thought leaders through participation at the American Society of Associa tion Executives Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Dubai will host the 2024 edition of the Inter national Congress of Endocrinology (ICE), with decision-makers awarding the city the important event, thanks partly to the strong local and regional support behind the bid.

The congress will take place from 1 3 March at Dubai World Trade Centre and expects to attract approximately 5 ,000 participants.

“We continue to see a strong response from meeting planners and decision-makers in bringing international business events to Dubai”

Look BEYOND PASSION

TEXT Hans Kanold

There are two great value-driven buzzwords in the hospitality industry today: sustainability and staff. Both contain loads of levels, create mas sive opinions, and are directed to, in fact, all components in the industry. The topics are currently subject to research, conferences, reports, and articles. Reading through most of the annual yearly reports from compa nies in the industry, they all have sections about sustainability and staff. Technology and branding are other topics high on the priority list, and they all correlate. When getting involved in these topics and studying them thoroughly, it’s interesting how the vast majority is on the agenda for one reason; to meet the guest’s needs and increase guest satisfaction.

In September, I attended the Future Hospitality Summit in Dubai. It’s a three-day event where the topics mentioned above took place among traditional ones like branding,

the future of concepts, and new innovative solutions. The presenta tions, with headlines like Embracing Responsible Consumerism and The Sustainable Hospitality Challenge –Remote SHC, challenged students from 40 leading international hotel schools to address a real-life case study regarding sustainability. Involved, and on stage, there were industry leaders like, for example, Wolfgang Neumann of Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, Tim Cordon, Area Senior VP Middle East and Africa for Radisson Hotel Group, and Jochem Jan Sleiffer, President Middle East, Africa and Turkey for Hilton.

The vibes at the summit were highly positive. There is magic in the making for the hotel, restaurant and meeting industry. After some years of hardship caused by you know what, the spirit is full of energy, innovation is top of mind, and the future has

never been brighter. or? Well, a few figures and facts from research and reports stand out, and are alarming globally, and that's with regards to the staff issue. It is, after all, the staff that’s creating the magic in the end.

However, reports state that it’s hard to attract and retain staff. For example, according to information from ETC, presented by Aptamind and its CEO Mrs Aradhana Khowala who

the back-of-house environment, for example staff satisfaction level, requires the same attention as the front-of-house, the guest satisfaction level. Simply put, having a happy staff creates happy guests.

So, what actions are necessary? What needs attention? Generation X and the coming Generation Z (the kids of generation X) are “demand ing,” some say. Are they? Are they

How can the hospitality industry learn from that? Well, we need to look at the production set-up. How can we do better? How can we use things like AI, robots or other intelligent tech nology to satisfy the demands of the next generation in our own “produc tion lines”? There is so much we could be doing. It’s time to act. What else can we do to be attractive as a trade? Well, by giving full attention to soft values. Like, for example, by not just greenwashing through policies and talk of sustainability, equality, and human rights to appease, attract or flatter our guests, but by also truly implementing these values in all aspects of our business to attract tal ent earnestly.

is also chair of The Global Advisory Board, The Red Sea Company and founder of Aptamind Partners, there is currently a talent crisis.

Hard facts and figures: 95 per cent of school-leavers are not consider ing a career in hospitality, and only one in five parents would encourage a hospitality career choice. Fur thermore only 50 per cent of the graduates from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland, end up working within the hotel industry after graduation. And that says something, seeing as EHL is ranked as the best hotel management school in the world by QS World University Ranking for hospitality and leisure management. And all of this is part of a trend that goes back many years, long before you know what What’s positive and encourag ing within the industry is that there are leaders who have identified the issue and are problem solvers. Basi cally, problem identification and active solutions need to go hand in hand. Full speed. Transforming

demanding if they expect to have time to eat in comfortable back-of-house restaurants? Are they demanding if they ask for reasonable work hours? Are they demanding if they expect a career path? or is it simply appealing to be able to find a work-life balance? Are people demanding if they expect to be able to live off one salary? Are they demanding if they expect con tinuous training? Furthermore, new generations has always been seen as demanding. Ask anyone older than you, and ask yourself, didn’t the older generations consider you demanding?

Now is the time for change. It’s time to highlight the work environ ment in the hospitality industry, at least if we want to be able to attract talent. Take the car industry, for instance. Walking into a modern car factory is like another universe compared to even just 20 years ago: it’s clean, quiet, efficient and healthy. Production per ‘man hour’ is higher and sick leave is much lower.

These are necessary investments to make. And the good thing is that investments in staff tend to gener ate fantastic ROI, like: reducing sick leave, achieving higher efficiency, and lowering staff cost (by using robots to conduct heavy and monotone jobs to replace people). And it leaves us with a more engaged staff. It’s time to look beyond just passion. If we are to keep delivering for our gests, we will need energised, skilled and motivated people with the right work-life bal ance. If we invest in the staff, they will provide passion and results.

Sweden-based Hans Kanold is a global speaker, author, startup investor and trend spotter focusing on sustainability, health and safety and lifestyle concepts in the hospitality industry worldwide.

Founder of Safehotels Alliance, the world’s first international hotel security certification company, in 2002 . General Secretary and founder of SMI Educational Forum. Member of UNISDR , United Nations Office for Disas ter Risk Reduction, 2013 2015 .

“There is magic in the making for the hotel, restaurant and meeting industry. o r?”

Planning for Uncertainty and  Disruption HOW TO ADAPT TO TOMORROW’S TRENDS TODAY

TEXT Scott Steinberg

If there’s one thing that the last two years (and a close brush with Covid-19’s economic impact) have taught meeting and event planners, it’s that the unexpected is now the only thing modern professionals can expect. While in-person events are returning faster than anticipated, hybrid meetings are here to stay. And while travel is suddenly rebounding, it’s also becoming increasingly clear that an environment of constant change is the new status quo.

Luckily, as we share with thou sands each year in keynote and work shop programs such as Think Like a Futurist: How to See Tomorrow Today, you don’t have to be especially bril liant or talented to successfully navi gate through all this ongoing chaos or to stay one step ahead of the curve. Better still for industry vets who may be reeling from months of constant disruption: Anyone can learn to spot and adapt to rising trends more effectively by asking more pointed questions and exercising more criti cal thinking.

Having spent 20 years serving as a futurist and trends expert for today’s largest household brands, here’s a simple three-step system that you can use to more effectively plan for what ever the future brings and adapt to any unforeseen curveballs it throws your way.

Focus on the future Futurism is the practice of actively contemplating future events and trends and how they promise to impact your business, and it’s only becoming an ever more vital skill to employ. Luckily, anyone can practice using it the same way we pros do: Studying the current state of the market and society, tracking emerging trends, and challenging yourself to think about how result ing developments might impact your organisation. You can become more of an anticipatory leader just by staying better attuned to what’s happening in the marketplace and making a point to actively plan by creating concrete action plans to address any scenarios you might face.

one of the easiest ways to do this is to challenge staffers to routinely pause and consider what’s coming next for your field, then craft sample scenarios that you and your col leagues can simulate working through to solve problems long before they become pressing issues. For exam ple, simple exercises we often use at workshops and retreats to help part ners think more strategically include:

Brainstorm ten unforeseen events and happenings that might impact your business in the future and discuss how you might address them with peers.

For example, this might include asking yourself what if:

ƒ

A resurgence in Covid-19 causes event attendance to shrink, industry calendars to shift, and available labour to become even harder to come by?

ƒ

Audience spending and interest wind up pulling back in the wake of ongoing economic uncertainty?

ƒ Geopolitical upheaval causes tem porary or long-term hiccups to the event or travel planning process?

Thinking up ten new trends or inno vations that promise to reshape your field and exploring which should be top of mind going forward by encour aging you to ask yourself pointed questions like:

Make strategic planning your secret weapon  Planning for tomorrow not only encourages us to get in the habit of being more proactive in the face of impending shifts but also more purposeful when it comes to doing our research and making smart decisions. But perhaps best of all, it also gets us in the habit of exercising strong but weakly held opinions. For

ƒ

Profits aside, how can you always ensure you’re finding ways to win with every opportunity you pursue, for example, by gaining new capabilities, insights, and resources that can apply to other business ventures?

ƒ

How adaptable are the business strategies you’re considering implementing, and if they fall short, just how readily can you repurpose tools, technologies, and insights gained from them in new and novel ways if needed, or use them to pivot to new opportunities?

ƒ

How quickly can resources and learnings garnered from your efforts in any given area translate to other contexts, industries, or areas of business opportunity?

ƒ Which areas of your business are likeliest to be impacted by these new advancements, how, and when?

ƒ How are you preparing to greet these changes from now on? Where can you turn for help if needed?

ƒ What simple shifts in business or operating strategy could you address impending changes in the market or pivot to new audiences or spaces as needed?

Engaging in these exercises, essen tially playing a constant game of asking yourself what if? can help you determine which way the future is trending and the best plan of action to adopt going forward.

Better yet, the more you make a point to role-play through pos sible scenarios and exercise your problem-solving skills, the more you’ll discover that the type of critical thinking that futurists use is a skill that can strengthen through repeated exercise.

example, making decisions using the best information at hand and taking action, but not becoming so married to the strategies that we can’t change course in the face of new (or even contradictory) information and busi ness intelligence.

As you go about this process, and consider new business strate gies, don’t forget to take a long-term approach to plan either, and recog nise that there are many ways to win in business besides boosting your company’s profits. For example: Although it may begin as a loss leader at first, starting a new conference or event series introduces you to new industries or partners or provides crucial business insights and learn ings. It may be worth more than a short-term boost to revenues in the end.

So, as you consider which business choices to pursue, don’t forget to fac tor in the opportunity cost associated with any decision. Happily, asking yourself a few simple questions can help here, such as:

Apply a measured approach to advancement  As corporate leaders can tell you, applying a structured approach to innovation pays to use. Noting this, you can get better at determining which way the wind is blowing by engaging in a few simple forward-thinking activities that indicate how tomorrow’s world is trending.

Staying up to date on emerging developments  For example, Millen nials and Gen Zers, who think, learn, and operate differently from prior generations, are becoming the largest demographics in the workforce, just as artificial intelligence and robot ics are transforming the shape of the workplace as we speak.

Just a few ways you can stay on top of these shifts include reading up on the latest news, attending confer ences, staying attuned to academic research, consulting with suppliers and vendors, talking with industry thought leaders, and keeping on top of business and investment activity.

“It’s increasingly clear that an environment of constant change is the new status quo”

Applying a critical eye towards change management once you’ve spotted an emerging trend, make a point to think ahead and imagine what the future will look like in three, five, and ten years hence for your field. Now work backwards and con sider how your industry got there and how you and your company can play a role in helping the market arrive at this future state.

By way of illustration, in the case of virtual reality or ‘metaverse’ (digi tally simulated) events, for example, you might ask: How will these inno vations impact current markets and industries? What business models will they upend, and to what extent? And what new opportunities will their arrival create?

Being more structured in your analy sis  Having a strategic methodology for evaluating opportunities is also essential. For example, you might start by deciding whether a new technology aimed at the meetings and events industry is an incremental innovation (such as one that intro duces a clever new feature or func tion) or disruptive innovation that produces a new product, service, or category.

Afterwards, you could identify prospective markets and audiences for it, pick a time to examine, and put the idea through rigorous analysis to understand the business opportunity it introduces. Then you’ll also want to consider the potential value to your organisation and the strategic ration ale for pursuing it.

Surround yourself with expert advis ers  No one can predict the future with 100 per cent certainty. But you can improve your accuracy by making it more collaborative and communal.

The more you can create and leverage a network of diverse advis ers boasting different backgrounds and experiences in various domains, which can help provide more robust feedback and insight when you’re working to envision the future, the more successful you’ll be.

Seeing tomorrow today  In the end, it helps to remember that getting better about planning for tomorrow isn’t necessarily about getting better about predicting the future so much as it is about asking more pointed questions.

The more you stay attuned to market signals, work to weave them together to spot emerging patterns,

and strive to put new ideas in motion, the more successful you’ll ultimately be.

Better yet, the more you practice using these talents, the more you’ll also find that tomorrow is often simply what you choose to make of it, and the better equipped to adapt to changing times you’ll be.

Scott Steinberg, President and CEO of Bizdev: The International Association for Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. Hailed as the World’s Leading Business Strategist, award-winning professional speaker Scott Steinberg is among today’s best-known trends experts and futurists, and the best-selling author of “Think Like a Futurist; Make Change Work for You: 10 Ways to Future-Proof Yourself, Fearlessly Innovate, and Succeed Despite Uncer tainty,” and “Fast >> Forward: How to TurboCharge Business, Sales, and Career Growth.” Find him through FuturistsSpeakers.com.

“The unexpected is now the only thing modern professionals can expect”

Roger Kellerman Publisher, business intelligence analyst, trend creator, educator and networker. Has over 40 years’ experience of the global meeting industry. Founder of Mötesindustriveckan. twitter.com/thekellerman

The Event Industry WILL ALMOST TRIPLE BY 2028

Madness surrounds us. Russia is forcing another senseless war on the world, affecting us all, not just those directly involved. Inflation is running rampant and the energy crisis makes all too many go pale as they receive their electricity bills.

on the other hand, we appear to be making it through a pandemic that at times felt terribly bleak and where the future often seemed highly uncertain. Some feared that face-toface meetings might be forever lost to Teams, Zoom and poorly-produced hybrid meetings. But as it turns out, far too many simply wouldn’t accept that fate.

Most people enjoy face-to-face meetings and look forward to seeing others, because in human connection and in the meeting of minds things happen, move forward and develop. The human race is outright threat ened without face-to-face meetings.

So we see organisations like ICCA, PCMA, IAPCO, MPI, ASAE, IACC and others reaching out and creating new opportunities. And we see the industry trade show giants, Imex and IBTM World, yet again attract exhibi tors from all over the world. And

many hosted buyers are eager to once again meet up with both friends and other professionals and join enticing sessions aimed at inspiring and devel oping people’s hearts and minds.

And just as I’m about to start writing this column, I see InGo’s Event Industry Trends & Stats (ingo. me/ 2022/ 05/ 24/event-industrytrends-stats/) and my facial features soften, my pulse calms, and I start smiling to myself, as I read:

“Even with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic reverberat ing throughout the industry, there is no doubt that events remain a critical part of most businesses’ overall strategy. Whether the purpose is to skyrocket sales, cement brand recognition, or bring together industry thought leaders, an event can be a game changer. In fact, 60 per cent of leaders believe that events are the most critical marketing channel for achieving business goals. And, research pre dicts that the global events industry will bring in $2 .194 trillion by 2028 – a huge jump from the $887 billion it generated in 2020 .

“The remaining months of 2022 look to be interesting ones for the events industry as we navigate the twists and turns of different for mats, goals, and ROI. As we look ahead to 2023 and beyond, there is no doubt that we’ll continue to see explosive growth in the industry and more numbers and trends to inform the events of the future.”

Wow. That almost seems too good to be true. And when something seems too good to be true, there’s empirical reason to suspect that it is.

And yet, as I listen to event com panies, both here in Sweden and from all over, like Ireland, Germany, England, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and France, there really does appear to be good reason for optimism.

KELLERMAN

photo Sara Appelgren

LET US INTRODUCE YOU

Sometimes the hardest part of going to a new place is making connections, which is why we’ll do it for you. In Luxembourg, we work alongside a variety of local partners, institutions, and companies, and we’re happy to introduce you. Moreover, when you have your business meeting or event here, we’ll share all our insider knowledge and answer all your questions, large or small.

Get in touch and we’ll show you around.

CREATING CONNECTIONS

Real and genuine connections are made when people come together. Now, more than ever, we are proud to be a place where people collaborate and share ideas. Our team are delighted to help you create an unrivalled event experience to inspire you and your delegates. With passion and care, we will deliver your event vision. We are ready to welcome you to The CCD.

INSPIRING EVENTS