Global growth and endless space

The meetings industry worldwide will turn in double-digit growth again this year, so the market researchers of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and American Express forecast in their Future Watch 2006 study.

More than 125,000 delegates last year visited the International Congress Center München (ICM), which notched up 126 events in all. At the same time the proportion of events with more than 2,000 delegates jumped by six percent and now accounts for 33 % of total business. Key accounts are becoming increasingly important not only for the ICM's sales portfolio.2006 will presumably therefore not be a bad year either for Munich, which already has 150 bookings and a host of options on its books. At the beginning of June the international football association FIFA gathered in the Bavarian capital with some 1,500 delegates, and the congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) early in September with 18,000 physicians filled all the rooms in the ICM as well as two adjacent exhibition halls.
At the same time the International Congress Centrum Berlin (ICC Berlin) last year registered 654 conferences and more than 170,000 delegates, marking 12 % growth in the number of events and 11 % higher attendance. This performance tallies with the trend: in 2004 the German capital was elevated to the Top Five in the International Congress & Convention Association's (ICCA) ranking of international conference cities. With its best position so far, Berlin came fourth after Barcelona (105 meetings), Vienna (101) and Singapore (99). At 90 conferences, it outdistanced Hong Kong (86), Copenhagen (76) and Paris (75). The ICCA ranking covered international association events taking place rotationally, alternating between at least three different countries, and consisting of at least 50 delegates.
This year the city of Berlin will again benefit from the extra visitor spend generated by mega events. At the end of March, for example, it hosted the German Cancer Congress with 12,000 cancer specialists and related associations, at the beginning of May the German Society of Surgeons with 7,000 physicians and at the end of May the German X-ray congress with 6,500 specialists.
On a national level, too, Germany is feeling the impetus from rising meetings demand. In the international country comparison that the international meetings association ICCA computed in parallel to its city ranking, Germany captured second place in the world with 272 meetings after the USA (288), outstripping for the first time countries such as Spain (267), France (204) and the United Kingdom (196). In global competition Germany is given a lift - in contrast to other sectors - "from federalism for a change," Lutz Vogt, managing director of the German Convention Bureau (GCB), explains. "From Hamburg to Munich we can offer an almost equally good range of facilities. Countries like England, France, Spain or Italy have only two or three conference centres with a comparable offering, where the concentration of demand drives prices sky-high and the quality of the hotels is often doubtful."
Even so, competition among destinations and meeting planners is becoming increasingly tough the world over. Some attractive cities are almost fully booked throughout the year, but according to a computation by the Union of International Associations (UIA) the global picture shows roughly 600 regularly gathering international congresses able to choose from more than 850 convention centres holding in excess of 2,000 people. And the "usual suspect" China is presently building at least 80 big new meeting venues.
What is more, since 2004 revenues from the medical sector have not been flowing as abundantly as in the good old days. At the beginning of the year before last the Pharmaceutical Codex was brought into line with the European Codex. Previously big pharmaceutical companies had generously sponsored medical congresses. The very best hotels and exquisite fringe programmes were the norm, booked at the expense of pharma firms, and congresses were occasionally used for an all-expenses-paid short break for the whole family. Then in 2004, to refute the charge of bribery the pharmaceutical industry committed to voluntary self-restraint. In the Pharmaceutical Codex it was stipulated, among other things, that leisure activities on the fringes of congresses would no longer be paid for by the industry as a matter of principle; now all handouts have to be documented in writing, and gperformance and counter-performanceh must be in balance. The upshot is that profitable sources of revenue for meeting, incentive and event planners have dried up. On the other hand, doctors are still bound by law to keep abreast of the latest scientific progress. Failure to do so can cost them their licence. And the other big demand-side conference market, the IT industry, being obliged to communicate innovations on an ongoing basis, will if anything make greater use of meetings moving forward. In principle, sophisticated knowledge societies need more rather than fewer meetings. Consequently the number of meetings and budgeted expenditure will climb for the third year in succession, so the market observers from Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and American Express forecast in the FutureWatch 2006 study. 758 meeting planners and 510 service providers were interviewed for the projection. Corporates and association planners expect a seven percent increase in the number of events, while independent meeting planners prophesy growth of twenty-one percent. Suppliers are expecting gains of ten percent. At the same time all respondents forecast rising delegate numbers, meeting durations and conference spend. Upbeat industry expectations are based on the belief that companies and associations will recognise and increasingly exploit the value of meetings and congresses as a strategic tool for the achievement of business goals.

m+a report Nr.6 / 2006 vom 22.09.2006