Dallas -- Organizational budgets for meetings and events are expected to grow by about 20 percent this year over last year, according to the annual FutureWatch study sponsored by Meeting Professionals International and American Express.
This year marks the fourth consecutive year that the meetings and events industry is expected to grow, according to the survey of 1,400 meeting planners.
Planners expect to manage more meetings this year and expect to see larger budgets not only in total dollars but also as a percentage of their total organizational budgets. Meeting budgets are expected to increase by 21 percent for association planners and 18 percent for corporations, while spend per meeting is expected to increase by eight percent and four percent, respectively.
The survey, which was released yesterday, also shows that organizations are actively involved in cutting costs for meetings and events through procurement policies and preferred vendor programs.
Thirty percent of corporate and government planners say procurement plays a major part in their purchasing decisions and another 34 percent report some participation. Twenty-seven percent of planners expect purchasing departments to become more involved with meetings in 2007, while 15 percent predict they will be less involved.
Sixty percent of corporate planners believe that their organization's preferred vendor program has been beneficial, rating it either a four or five on a five-point scale. Twenty-six percent of corporate planners said their companies do not have a preferred vendor program, while 30 percent are not sure if they do.
The full report is available at www.mpiweb.org and www.americanexpress.com/meetingsolutions.
For more news on recent developments that could affect your plans,
get MeetingNews' weekly e-newsletter to your inbox.