Germany’s profile as a meetings and events destination is improving constantly – that is the opinion of 83 percent of the surveyed experts, 11.4 percent more than in the year 2007 of the Meeting & EventBarometer 2008. Accessibility, hotel capacities and the image of the destination will also continue to be important factors in the future. Professional event planning and organisation are becoming increasingly more important in order to develop a positive profile in the highly competitive market – according to 96.2 percent of the experts (an increase of 2.9 percent). 80.2 percent have observed that environmental aspects are becoming more important in the event segment (a 0.5 percent increase) – this also opens up opportunities for differentiation for suppliers.
Business travel continues to be a crucial success factor for economic development
91.5 percent of the respondents believe that “virtual communication options will not replace personal contacts” – five percent more than in 2007. This statement, which is of central significance for the development of conventions and congresses, is a clear indication that the fears that the business sector might soon become superfluous, which had caused a great deal of disquiet in the business sector in the past, have not been corroborated. The realisation that personal meetings will retain their importance has become accepted: 86.9 percent of the experts even believe that “the need for interactive personal meetings in general will increase” (a 7.2 percent increase). Only smaller events are being replaced by virtual and/or in-house events to some extent – this is one reason why experts and organisers expect the number of in-house events held in companies to increase. 64.8 percent (a plus of four percent) of the respondents gave the corresponding predictions.
Golden age for high-quality event locations
However, companies will also hold more meetings and events in external events facilities (convention centres, event locations and convention hotels): 77.9 percent (a plus of 6.3 percent) expect an increase in this area. In this context, organisers and experts allocate the greatest importance to event locations. Convention centres are ranked in third place, but they achieved a substantial improvement in comparison with the previous year: whereas in 2007 only about 25 percent of the surveyed organisers and experts allocated a “greater importance” to them, in 2008 40 percent were of the opinion that convention centres are attractive locations for events and are gaining in importance.
Within the MICE market, organisers and experts expect there to be slight shifts in the importance of the various fields: thus, they predict that conventions in particular will become more important. In the case of events, both groups expect a slight increase, while the importance that is allocated to incentives remains stable. As in the past, meetings exert a decisive influence on the MICE market even though - according to the survey of organisers and experts - their importance will decrease slightly while remaining at a high level.
Theodore Koumelis - Thursday, April 24, 2008