The Asia Pacific meetings sector is heading for a year of consolidation, with organisations looking to decrease spend on their business events in 2014, the Professional Conference Organisers (PCO) Association has heard.
Belinda Doery, American Express Meetings & Events, says the approval process for meetings is gaining complexity, as organisations look at consolidating meetings and events for potential cost savings.
The American Express 2014 Global Meetings Forecast indicates that volumes (the number of meetings) in Asia Pacific will decrease by 1.2% and pax (delegate numbers) will show a 2.4% decline. Disturbingly, for an industry already on tight deadlines, the forecast predicts a 3.1% decrease in lead time. A spending decrease of 3.6% is expected.
‘It’s not all bad news. The decrease in pax, for example, could just be that people are getting a lot smarter at an organisational level. And the spend is going down, but in part this is due to a move away from luxury hotels to mid-tier properties. It is actually a re-allocation of spend.’
The PCO Association is at the Pullman Melbourne Albert Park, November 28 – 30.
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Belinda Doery, American Express Meetings & Events, |