CWT forecasts more meetings, larger group sizes, higher cost in APAC

CWT’s latest 2017 Meetings & Events Forecast states that the industry will see overall growth, despite decreased client meeting expenditure in some regions.

“Heading into 2017, our forecast predicts significant growth in meetings and events for regions around the world,” said Cindy Fisher, vice president and global head, CWT Meetings & Events. “By being flexible with timing and destinations, planners can take full advantage of the current market to optimise their meetings and events and produce better results.”


Fischer: good outlook for 2017

Globally, analysts predict that GDP growth will be slightly lower in 2017, making it the time for planners to get the best value for money and to reduce the cost per attendee.

Here are the key takeaways for the Asia-Pacific region:

  • The number of meetings is expected to increase by 25 per cent while group size will grow by five per cent. This will lead to a rise in costs per attendee (three per cent).
  • Destination wise, Singapore remains attractive given its security, political stability and international connectivity despite not being a low-cost city. The significantly less-expensive cities to hold meetings are Bangkok, Beijing, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta. Thai and Vietnamese cities remain popular, but demand for Bangkok has decreased due to recent political events.
  • Due to the weak Australian dollar, Sydney is relatively cheaper than previous years. But it is still more expensive relative to other emerging Asian cities.
  • Pharmaceutical companies will continue to drive meetings and events in the region
  • Meeting buyers will be concerned with F&B costs as they are expected to rise globally due to increased production prices, changes in imports and exports, and increased special dietary requests from attendees.

Meanwhile, the study has also noted that while Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) is expanding in Asia-Pacific, it remains one of the least mature regions. This is because the region consists of many highly-fragmented emerging markets, and processes tend to be highly manual and may not fit a global technology framework.

Regardless, SMM continues to gain ground in China and Singapore as meeting buyers who have implemented end-to-end meetings solutions are realising 12-20 per cent cost savings on average.

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