Meetings and Events Industry News

The value of this list will grow year-over-year as we start to see movement among the cities.

Meeting planners are clearly expressing that they prefer face-to-face engagement with convention bureaus to source destination information.

Due to accelerating globalization, more cities than ever are competing to attract foreign corporate investment and talent. Therefore, city leaders are placing a higher value on convention centers to help develop their destinations' business brand.

Based on Park Hyatt's consumer research, there's growing demand for more sophisticated programming in luxury hospitality. This collaboration with The New York Times could spark similar initiatives across the industry.

As meeting professionals become increasingly pressured to keep in mind all of the happenings and expenses of events, there is still an overwhelming amount of planners who have yet to implement a mobile app to keep track of events in a simple, productive way.

These four destinations represent the highest concentration of international association headquarters. So the partnership has the opportunity to evolve into a true platform for sharing knowledge on global association meeting trends with the rest of the industry, and not just sales leads among themselves.

For meeting planners, adopting an attendee-first mindset is the most important factor. optimizing attendee experience

Getting the right site is what separates smart meeting planners, those who know when to book, from the rest. How do they do it? They look at the “shoulder” seasons – the times in between a destination’s peak demand.

While there are many issues prohibiting meeting attendees from booking Airbnb, the amount of those who do will skyrocket as more people understand the opportunities for local travel experiences and inherent cost savings. Affordable sharing accommodations also help people attend educational association events who otherwise might not be able to afford to participate.

Macau is an example of an emerging meetings destination that will see U.S. market growth on the backs of its U.S. hotel partners like Sheraton and St. Regis, but the challenges are significant due to the region's reputation as the "Las Vegas of the East."