Groups and Meetings: Driving Success in Business Travel's Most Complex Segment

Summary

The recent financial crisis and recession sent the U.S. corporate groups and meetings market into a tailspin. Industry spend plummeted nearly 30% in 2009. The industry is now clawing its way out of one of its toughest periods ever, but the landscape remains dynamic and complex. The recession and the "A.I.G. effect" have heightened scrutiny surrounding travel spend; procurement departments and Strategic Meetings Management Programs (SMMP) are driving a reassessment of meeting value, ROI and processes from top to bottom; and emerging technologies – virtual conferencing, social media and mobile services – are serving up new threats and offering immense opportunities.

Phocuswright's Groups and Meetings: Driving Success in Business Travel's Most Complex Segment provides a robust picture of the U.S. groups and meetings market. The analysis is based in part on data collected through an in-depth survey conducted with more than 600 meeting buyers, including meeting managers, planners, coordinators and procurement professionals. To supplement this extensive data, Phocuswright interviewed more than 30 suppliers and intermediaries that service the industry – hotels, cruise lines, virtual meeting providers, TMCs, GDSs, technology providers and others. The combination of rich buy-side data and qualitative supply-side input yields a wealth of information and insight into the groups and meetings market.

Phocuswright's Groups and Meetings: Driving Success in Business Travel's Most Complex Segment, presents data, findings and analysis that help companies understand the current state of the groups and meetings market, and appreciate the unique dynamics that are transforming the space. Key areas of focus in the report include:

• Market sizing and forecasts for 2008-2012, with analysis of meeting size and types, travel vs. non-travel spend, online bookings, use of intermediaries and more


• Trends in meeting management, including reporting and oversight, the influence of procurement, centralization, outsourcing and SMMP implementation


• Impact of virtual/video conferencing, with data and discussion on the extent to which virtual elements are displacing and/or supplementing physical meetings


• Social and mobile technology trends, including how emerging technologies influence the quality of the meeting experience and extend the meeting lifecycle

The U.S. corporate travel industry continues to be pressured by a sluggish economy, but the groups and meetings market is recovering – changing rapidly amid powerful forces including new technologies. Phocuswright's Groups and Meetings: Driving Success in Business Travel's Most Complex Segment will give your company the numbers and know-how to excel in this challenging but dynamic marketplace.