AmexGBT Forecast: Meeting Professionals Confident Business Will Rebound

Two-thirds (67%) of meeting professionals surveyed believe in-person meeting levels will return to their pre-pandemic numbers within one to two years.

The statistic comes from the 2022 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, the 11th annual report produced by American Express Meetings & Events, a division of American Express Global Business Travel (GBT).

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The report’s global survey of meetings and events professionals found that in-person meetings
and events are projected to grow in 2022, with 81% of events expected to have an in-person element.

Another indicator of industry growth is the 64% of global meetings and events professionals citing increased budgets for next year. However, the industry doesn’t expect to return to business as usual, with meeting professionals determined to take lessons learned during the pandemic to improve the value, effectiveness and sustainability of future events.

“While we are all eager to see the pent-up demand for meetings and events fully realized, we recognize that recovery will not be a straight line and we can’t get there by simply repeating what we’ve done in the past,” said Gerardo Tejado, GBT’s Senior Vice President of Value Development and General Manager of Meetings & Events.

“As we look to 2022, we expect the optimism, resourcefulness and innovation we’ve seen in the sector over the past two years lead to a new era of thoughtful, tech-forward, responsible M&E strategies.”

The forecast finds the value of internal meetings is increasingly recognized by organizations, with internal and training meetings projected to see the largest growth in 2022.

Despite the rise of in-person meetings and events, virtual and hybrid formats will continue to play a key role, according to global survey respondents. Hybrid meeting formats will continue to gain traction as they help expand reach to wider audiences and create a built-in virtual contingency plan. An increased number of attendees is expected across all event types and formats.

Meeting professionals in North America are strongly optimistic about a recovery in 2022. At the time of the survey, 74% ranked optimism level as 8 or higher, on a scale of 1-10. The region was the leader in resuming in-person meetings and events, with 31% already doing so in June/July this year – and at the time were most likely to have in-person events scheduled for 2022 (54%).

The 2022 Forecast is based on a survey of 500 meetings and events professionals and interviews with top industry experts. The survey and interviews took place from June to July 2021. Respondents represented corporations, associations, buyers, and suppliers across 31 countries.