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Benchmark names top meeting trends for 2011
Business travel, both individual and group, is up this year. And for the most part, the pace is better than last year, reports Benchmark Hospitality International in its “Top Ten Meeting Trends for 2011.”
Benchmark also says spending is increasing so fast that 2012 “may be the best year in a long time.”
Other trends:
• Planners want choices and flexibility in packages offered.
• Properties are increasingly agreeing to value-added options such as free internet access and cancellation flexibility.
• “The improvement in economic conditions is encouraging booking forward, especially towards the end of 2011 and 2012,” the study found.
• “Social media seems to be infiltrating the meeting planning industry, although not to the extent that it has taken over communications for the general public,” the report says.
• Planners remain highly conscious of cost. “It’s a must for government meetings, and often for meetings in the pharmaceuticals’ niche as well,” says Benchmark.
• Team building events are in demand (planners expect clever variations).
• Inquiries about entertainment options are “finally up again.”
• Planners are definitely using the Internet to learn about locations and destinations.
• Traditional industry backbones such as insurance, finance and high tech are returning to meetings. “The increase seems to be somewhat regional, but after the recession in this area in 2009 and 2010, it’s nice,” Benchmark concluded.
By David Wilkening
David
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