Preliminary results from research conducted over the last few weeks amongst international association executives continue to provide the industry with much needed grounds for optimism.
Questions about the performance of their main 2009 congresses indicated that fewer than a third of respondents experienced falling delegate numbers, with only one in ten saying this fall was "significant", whilst a quarter saw their attendance climbing, with over 9% saying this growth was "significant". Sponsorship and exhibition revenue presented not quite such a rosy picture, with only 14% reporting increases and 46% reporting decreases, of which 14% were "significant", but another third saw no change to their financial picture. These figures are very much in line with results from research conducted amongst IMEX Association Day participants in June 2009, when the same questions were asked about actual and anticipated 2009 results.
A new question was asked in this survey about expectations for their major events in 2010. Here the optimism was even more clear-cut: Whilst 44% expected no change compared to 2009, 39% anticipated higher attendance, and only 16% were expecting a fall.
Commenting on these results, ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said: "These latest quantitative results match up to the numerous anecdotal stories we are hearing from our members and from other international association executives. The economic downturn has had an impact, of course, but it has been far less serious than for other market sectors of the meetings industry. The fact that so many associations are experiencing rising delegate numbers and revenue during this period would be remarkable if it were not for the case that international associations have been consistently demonstrating this resilience for many, many years. We are confident that those destinations and companies which have a strong mix that includes international association meetings in their business portfolios will always cope more easily with downturns than competitors who have put all their efforts into the corporate meetings market."
"This latest research reinforces the earlier messages we were hearing immediately after this year’s IMEX, that international association meetings have been holding up solidly in 2009 and that most of the planners are anticipating a very strong 2010. This makes us extremely confident that next year’s IMEX will attract even more of these vitally important buyers, which is great news for our exhibitors.", said Carina Bauer, IMEX Marketing and Operations Director.
