EIBTM 2008 Industry Trends & Market Share Report - HCB

The financial market crisis of the closing months of 2008 has raised fears of a deep
and prolonged meetings slump in many of the world’s major economies. The impacts
of that crisis will set the context for the meetings and events industry in the shortand
medium-term. By October 2008, there were already reports of meeting planners
being made redundant and clients cutting back on expenses.
What is the outlook for our industry in the months ahead? As stated in the Preface to
this report, the meetings and events industry has experienced previous periods of
recession. That experience provides a few indications of what is likely to happen this
time round:
* One consensus is that lead times for corporate events will become shorter, as
clients engage in less long-range planning in order to be able to make changes more
rapidly (this tendency was also observed immediately following the 9/11 attacks).
* If companies find it difficult to get credit, the volume of their meetings could
shrink, since many such events are created in order to discuss new business
projects.
* On the association meeting side, if individual members reduce spending - on
personal goods and services, including their attendance at meetings - associations
and the events they hope to stage could be affected by attrition. Nevertheless,
association events generally stick to their schedules even if attendance levels drop.
Recent and reliable data on the likely outlook for the year ahead is in short supply, in
these volatile times. However, two key reports have made predictions, taking into
account the recent financial shock to the global economy.
The first of these is the Global Business Travel Forecast and Trends Report,
published by American Express Business Travel in October 2008.
This report predicts that business travel costs will not change significantly in this next
year, and that any increases will be fairly moderate, signalling a halt of a steady
upward climb of costs experienced in recent years.
Table 3:
Forecasted Increases
Region Airfares Hotel Rates
Domestic/Short-
Haul
(Economy Class)
International/Long-
Haul
(Business Class)
North America -3% to 5% 1% to 6%
Europe 0% to 4% 1% to 9%
Latin American
and Caribbean
Japan, Asia
Pacific and
Australia
3% to 5% 2% to 4%
2% to 4%. 5% to 7%.
Mid-
Range
-1% to
6%
0% to
6.5%
4% to
6%
8% to
12%
Upper-
Range
-2% to
4.5%
0% to
5%
3% to
7%
8% to
13%
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