Dallas -- The meetings business is expected to grow worldwide in 2006 for the third consecutive year, according to a report released yesterday by Meeting Professionals International (MPI).
Corporate, association, and government meeting planners expect the number of meetings their organizations hold will increase by 7 percent this year over last year while independent planners expect the number of meetings they plan to grow by a whopping 21 percent, according to MPI's annual FutureWatch report, which is sponsored in conjunction with American Express.
Planners also expect to receive a larger share of their organizations' budgets this year than in 2005. Forty-two percent of corporate, association and government meeting planners predict their budgets will grow as a percentage of their organizations' total budgets. Only 8 percent anticipate receiving a smaller proportion.
Meanwhile, suppliers, which include hotels, convention centers and convention bureaus, project a 10-percent increase in the number of meetings at their facilities or cities.
"All FutureWatch 2006 respondents expect to have more frequent, longer and larger meetings this year, suggesting that organizations are increasingly recognizing the value of meetings as strategic business tools," said MPI chief executive Colin Rorrie Jr.
"However, from what we've seen, cautious optimism seems to be the theme in 2006," Rorrie added. "While key indicators point to growth and increased meetings spend, concerns about the economy and rising oil and travel costs loom."
While meetings are on the rise, international meetings travel is slowing, as U.S. and European planners project little change in the use of international meeting destinations, and Canadian planners expect a significant decline.
Canadian planners anticipate only 14 percent of all 2006 meetings will be held internationally, compared to 23 percent in 2005. While the United States remains the top international destination for Canadian planners, only 7 percent expect to hold their meetings here, down from 16 percent in 2005.
European planners expect international meetings to increase slightly from 26 percent in 2005 to 29 percent in 2006, with the United States and Asia listed as top destinations at 12 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Planners in the United States predict little change in international meeting locations, with Canada and Europe tied as lead locales at 5 percent each.
Now in its fourth year, FutureWatch 2006 is a compilation of data collected via an online survey from 1,268 meeting professionals worldwide--40 percent client side planners, 20 percent intermediaries, and 40 percent suppliers--by Syndics Research, a Dallas-based independent research firm. The full report is available at www.mpiweb.org.