MPI Business Barometer:
Economic Woes and Air Travel Issues Hit Home

(Results of survey conducted during September 2008)

You could see it coming, and the latest Business Barometer confirms we’re out of the frying pan and into the fire. The meetings and events industry is now being heavily impacted by the weakening global economy, budget cuts, and airline price increases/schedule reductions. Recent meetings and events business has been declining, and projected business in the next 6 months is declining as well.

As worsening economic conditions have forced many organizations to reduce or freeze their budgets, pressure has been placed on the meetings and events industry to lower prices, and provide greater return on investment. Many events are being postponed, reduced in size, relocated to regional destinations, cancelled, or consolidated.

While current trends are negative, the news isn’t all bad. A significant portion of survey respondents are still experiencing modest growth, and technology providers and regional destinations may prosper from current trends. But the coming months will present challenges, and the message to industry professionals is to deliver strategic value, as meetings and events may be more important than ever in delivering business success.

Increased travel costs and reduced flight schedules have further affected meetings and events, by accounting for a higher percentage of available budgets, and by making it inefficient to reach some destinations. The addition of fees and changes to flight schedules after booking have also added a degree of uncertainty to travel planning.

Economic conditions and travel costs, combined with a higher awareness of environmental concerns, have resulted in a greater emphasis on "green" meetings, having smaller meetings at regional destinations, and evaluating technology as a substitute for some in-person gatherings.

View all survey chart data.

About the MPI Quarterly Business Barometer

Every year MPI partners with American Express to conduct the FutureWatch survey, which takes the pulse of the meetings and events industry and projects key trends for the coming year. MPI’s Quarterly Business Barometer provides a supplementary view of up-to-the-minute industry business conditions. We invite 1,000 industry leaders, MPI members and non-members alike, across all geographic and industry segments, to share their views on current business conditions. We welcome your comments at the bottom of the page.