Sixty-two percent of buyers predict more events and 72% report that they will be working with new destinations.
The results of the 2012 IBTM Global Meetings Industry Research, announced at CIBTM China and Asia Focus, show that the region continues to offer huge potential for growth with an increase in volume of events, budgets and new destinations predicted.
The research study was based on the business decisions and challenges of 579 professionals (332 buyers and 247 suppliers from the meetings and events industry) as they move into a new age of global event planning. Of those surveyed 77% were from Asia and 23% were based outside the region but organising events in Asia.
Industry Sectors:
The top ten industry sectors for the Asia meetings industry this year have been identified as:
- Government/Administration
- Financial/Banking/Insurance
- Utilities
- Electronic/Communications
- Pharmaceuticals/Medical
- Training/Education
- Construction/Engineering
- Automotive
- Property
- Manufacturing/Industrial
Destinations:
When considering the buyers top ten countries of choice for holding events in Asia, China was most popular with 62% of all participants selecting it as the most used destination. Hong Kong followed with 45.5% and 35.9% of respondents selected Thailand.
Industry Trends:
The outlook for the MICE industry was also very positive with 62% of buyers saying that they would hold more events in the next 12 months (compared to the amount held in the previous 12 months), and 25% stating that they would hold the same amount of events.
Forty-eight percent of respondents confirmed that they would have increased marketing budgets for the next 12 months, 31% saying they would remain the same. This could be due to the use of social media and new technologies with 77% of buyers and 86% of suppliers using social media to communicate and up to 30% already providing apps.
Seventy-two percent of buyers also reported that they would be working with more new destinations, 22% said that they would work with the same number of destinations and only 6% said indicated they would work with fewer new destinations.
When asked to comment on the factors which would most impact the increase of meetings and events business, the most frequently mentioned were: the global and local economy, air fare increases and currency inflation, increasing demand and the burgeoning industry in China, product and destination development, staffing requirements and creative new ideas.
Technology:
The research into use of new technologies saw some of the most significant results with 85.5% of supplier respondents and 77% of buyer respondents stating that they would use social media as a new communication tool and over 50% of buyers stating that they would start hosting virtual meetings.
Research was undertaken in conjunction with Reed Travel Exhibitions by Sally Greenhill, The Right Solution: sallygreenhill@rightsolution.co.uk.
