Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has released its 2013 April Business Barometer report, which revealed overall conditions in the meeting and event industry continue to improve and the gap between North American and European meeting levels is widening.
The report indicates the U.S. corporate sector is seeing more bookings and greater lead times; also associations are up slightly and government is flat. In Europe, budget constraints continue. Corporate, association and government meetings spend isn’t consistent from one European country to another, but the overall outlook is an increase of just two per cent, compared to 3.5 per cent in the U.S.
In regard to current trending topics, managers are now placing more emphasis on social media and technology skills over meeting and event industry knowledge.
MPI publishes the Business Barometer report to help its members and the broader meeting and event community understand how perceptions and realities of the economy affect decision-makers. The report includes current and predicted attendance trends, employment and budget statistics, and more. To obtain a copy, please visit www.mpiweb.org/research.
The Business Barometer – Bi-Monthly presents current industry trends and predictions from more than 300 senior meeting professionals on MPI’s Business Research Panel. Every two months, research firm Association Insights surveys the panel, asking a short series of quantitative questions related to the economy and a qualitative question regarding the individual’s professional outlook. The survey provides a bi-monthly tracking of current business conditions and outlooks compared with actual business conditions and outlooks a year ago.
