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Issue 3 / July 2011 |
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The economic crisis in 2009 and its consequences, together with increasing concern over the carbon footprint associated with air travel, and the sporadic natural disasters happening all over the planet have placed considerable pressure on executives to implement cost controls within their business operations. Meetings and business travel budgets are often cut or reduced with little or no consideration for the reasons why face-to-face contact is essential. However, the economic downturn has actually emphasized the increasing importance of face-to-face meetings, not only in intangible effects to business meetings, but also in recognition of its activities by an organization like UNWTO in its proposed International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) category to be developed to represent the activities of the Meetings Industry - a new class, viz. 8230 ‘Convention and trade show organizers’. This industry includes: the organization, promotion and/or management of events, such as business and trade shows, conventions, conferences and meetings, including or not including the management and provision of the staff to operate the facilities in which these events take place.
The value of meetings are being realized and, in many economies, measured with regards to their economic worth. A number of research studies at national and regional levels of the Meetings Industry have demonstrated an attempt to measure the industry’s economic contribution. The collaborative studies in evaluating the Meetings Industry under the “Measuring the Economic Importance of the Meetings Industry - Developing a Tourism Satellite Account Extension”, first published in 2006, revealed that a complete picture of the industry requires data from both demand and supply side as demonstrated in the chart below.
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| The Meetings Industry |
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Source : Measuring the Economic Importance of the Meetings Industry - Developing a Tourism Satellite Account Extension by the World Tourism Organization, 2006, page 12
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However, findings revealed that improvements are required in the definition of the scope of the industry, its components and meeting participants, the purpose of the data collection, the type of data required, as well as consistency in data collection and frequency. Such improvements in the data collection methodology would provide a more accurate realization of the economic value of the Meetings Industry. Nevertheless there is much optimism about the future prospects of the Meetings Industry.
More details on ‘The Value of the Meetings Industry’ can be found from the full MICE Report |
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For more information
please mail to intelligence@tceb.or.th
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