The results of the report submitted by the travel agency American Express Travel were presented at a press conference led during the first day of EIBTM.
Last Wednesday, 19 November, Jose Antonio Ruiz, European Head of Meetings & Events at American Express, took it upon himself to try to lift the spirits of the Spanish MICE industry. In contrast to other European countries which will see a fall in activity in 2015 or, at best, a year of stagnation, there will be a slight growth in Spain; the only other bright spot being the UK.
During the presentation of the report, which took place in 19 November, during the first day of EIBTM in Barcelona, Ruiz stated that, in contrast to other European countries, the Spanish MICE market would show a slight recovery, in line with the country’s economic comeback.
Specifically, the study forecasts that the number of corporate events held in Spain will increase by 2.6% in 2015, while the incentive industry will see a growth rate of about 2.1%. The reason for this, according to Ruiz, is due more to the fact that Spanish companies cannot afford to organize their events abroad and also to the sharp drop in activity during the years of the crisis. An illusion or not, another reason for optimism is the fact that the incentives of Spanish companies will last nearly five days, two more than the European average, although in the majority of cases the main objective will be training or motivating sales teams.
Moreover, it is expected that the number of meetings organized by the sales and marketing departments of Spanish companies will increase by 3%.
Although it might seem that Spain will be the exception to the rule with respect to the rather pessimistic forecasts for the rest of Europe, the travel budgets of Spanish companies are unlikely to see any changes in 2015 – that this, the famous "doing more with less". However, everything will depend on political and economic developments in the country and in Europe on the whole, this being the greatest concern for companies according to the results of the study.
