Greener events, environmentally conscious venues and companies demonstrating higher levels of Corporate Social Responsibility have accelerated according to the annual EIBTM Industry Trends and Market Share report. The report compiled by Rob Davidson, Senior Lecturer in Business Travel and Tourism at The University of Westminster in London and EIBTM Industry Analyst identifies the key trends for the meeting and incentives markets over the past 12 months.

Other highlights from the report include:

One new market trend that has emerged in the past 12 months is the location of international meetings. It is becoming clear that an increasing number of planners are choosing destinations closer to home, whether in the US or in Europe possibly the result of on-going anxieties over the threat of terrorist activities and downward pressure on budgets.

Incentive travel is being affected by legislation and company policies which are becoming more restrictive on incentive programmes – especially in areas such as purchasing where some policies require clients to no longer stay at properties rated over four stars.

ROI (Return on Investment) is also a current issue and end-users, especially large companies, are making a greater use of surveys and ROI analysis to assess the impact of incentive travel.

Outlook

The report also predicts that a number of key trends currently being experienced by the industry worldwide are expected to have a considerable impact on the outlook for meetings and incentives in all world regions in the year ahead.

These are:

• The growth in low-cost long-haul airlines entering the market
• Green/environmental issues - creating pressure on individuals and organisations to travel less often or apply carbon offset for their travel
• Corporate social responsibility - encouraging use of destinations where they can contribute to the local area and population beneficially
• The growth in travel and trips being made from emerging markets
• The change to US passport rules earlier this year - expected to result in more US citizens with passports and therefore a higher percentage finding it easier to travel outside North America
• The rapid pace of development in hotels, venues and infrastructure - could result in more competitive pricing and this could in turn increase demand. 

No where is the growth in infrastructural development more evident than in Asia and the Middle East, where new, world-class venues are set to open at an increasing pace over the next few years. China alone will add considerably to the 100+ conference facilities that have sprouted up in that country over the past three to four years. Also, in matured business destinations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia there are enhancement works taking place to upgrade facilities and tourism products to encourage meetings and incentive planners to hold their events in these places.