As the pandemic recedes, people are eager to interact face-to-face, and the meetings and events industry is finding its mojo once again.

It’s been a tough couple of years for the global meetings and events business, but there are signs of recovery. With the successful roll-out of vaccines and the easing of global travel restrictions, meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) are seeing an increase in demand, but it is from a low base. Spending on business events in the UK fell by 80 per cent from 2019 levels during the lockdown period but now, by pioneering a blend of in-person, virtual and hybrid platforms with a focus on sustainability, the future looks brighter.

APPETITE FOR GROWTH

“From a global perspective, the outlook is overwhelmingly optimistic,” says Emma Bason, meetings and events director UK and Ireland at Amex GBT. “We are witnessing a pent-up demand come to fruition, with meetings being booked just as soon as government restrictions and corporate policies allow.”

David Thompson, event director of IBTM World, agrees. “We’re all emotional beings and we want to have experiences together. The fact that we’ve been starved of them for the past two years has made us realise even more that it’s what we want and love.”

IBTM World 2021, a global MICE industry expo, is taking place at Fira de Barcelona in early December at 70 per cent capacity – a positive step considering the show had been virtual in 2020. “In this environment, it demonstrates that recovery is going well. All trade shows are blueprints of an industry,” Thompson says.

Since the easing of restrictions in the UK there has been a cautious return to in-person gatherings. The first ‘live’ business event took place in April at the 400-person ACC Liverpool venue. “This marked a major step towards rebuilding, with the industry demonstrating its ability and determination to host safe and professional events, and provide a stand-out delegate experience,” says Patricia Yates, deputy chief executive at Visit Britain.

These baby steps were followed by major in-person events on the international stage, namely the G7 Summit in Cornwall in June and COP26 in Glasgow in November.

Inbound international visits are key to the recovery of MICE in the UK, with an average international delegate worth £864 in 2019 compared with £154 for a domestic delegate, according to campaigning and networking organisation Cities Restart. These figures are forecast to grow to £1,078 and £180 respectively by 2026. “It’s important that we offer messages of welcome and reassurance to the global events industry, alongside the practicalities of travel,” says Saara Vuorela-Valladares, head of events at trade association UK Inbound.

SAFETY IS THE TOP PRIORITY

How can meeting planners create a Covid-secure environment for guests and staff? At the time of writing, the UK government has not made it mandatory for people to be fully vaccinated to attend large-scale events. Meeting planners must step into the attendees’ shoes, consider what would make them feel comfortable and then clearly communicate requirements to guests.

“Be sure to communicate well in advance expectations of attendees – and also which elements are mandatory, and which are optional, to leave no room for confusion,” Amex

GBT’s Bason advises. Communication is all the more important when you consider the varying rules across the world, many of which are ever-changing.

While entry requirements differ, most events will feature similar Covid-19 protocols in the venue. Measures include sanitisation stations, good ventilation, disinfection of equipment and furnishings, contactless technologies, the use of Perspex screens, and outdoor space. Signage at the entrance is also key to shaping behaviour, with noticeboards reminding attendees to sanitise their hands, keep their distance and wear masks in crowded areas. Businesses can also reassure guests by achieving Visit Britain’s ‘We’re Good to Go’ certification, which indicates they are adhering to government and public health guidance, have carried out a Covid-19 risk assessment and have the required processes in place.

Naturally, some delegates will be more at ease than others so it’s important that organisers take this into account. “Planners should bear in mind that everyone is different, comfort levels vary, and attendees will be travelling from different locations with different guidelines,” Bason says, while IBTM World’s Thompson adds, “We’re all going back at our own pace.” Flexibility, therefore, is key to keeping everyone happy.

UK Inbound trialled a colour-coded system at its annual convention in Manchester in March 2021, with delegates sporting orange stickers to indicate that they wanted to keep more distance. When World Travel Market (WTM), which platforms the global travel trade, held a large ‘mask-friendly event’ at London’s Excel in November, wearing a mask was optional and based on personal preference.

ARE VIRTUAL AND HYBRID STILL PLAYERS?

After far too much screen time in 2020, travellers are eager to meet face-to-face rather than virtually. “One of the ingredients of creating long-term business relationships is sharing experiences,” Thompson says. Corporate travel management company BCD Travel’s survey of business travellers worldwide, carried out in July 2021, found that the main weakness of virtual meetings and events is the lack of human interaction (66 per cent), followed by easy distraction (54 per cent), the unsuitability for some meeting types (51 per cent), and zoom fatigue and tech issues (49 per cent).

“The initial opinion of virtual was that it was nice to be connected to others in isolated scenarios [during lockdown], but then virtual fatigue became common,” Thompson explains, adding that the market hasn’t changed fast enough to replace in-person meetings.

Virtual platforms, however, still have a place in the MICE universe, particularly for destinations experiencing a spike in Covid cases. Helen McCabe, managing director UK, and Sue Darlaston, senior director sales solutions, at BCD Meetings and Events UK, state that “ultimately, the medium needs to be driven by the meeting objectives”. Smaller meetings, for instance, might be better suited to virtual platforms to avoid unnecessary travel.

The hybrid model, meanwhile, is the best of both worlds. Not only does it provide a larger global reach, allowing delegates to attend either in-person or remotely from multiple locations, but it’s also a safe bet. In the words of Bason, it provides “a contingency plan should an event suddenly need to be transitioned to virtual” – a factor that should not be ignored given the turbulence of the past 20 months. The in-person WTM London and IBTM World events, for instance, were both followed by a week of virtual events for those who could not attend.

The silver lining is that the pandemic has fostered creativity. “Innovation has continued to be a cornerstone of recovery,” Visit Britain’s Yates says, pointing to the launch of the Hybrid Events Solution UK (HESUK), a free-of-charge initiative launched by eight English cities: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle Gateshead, Nottingham and Sheffield. The aim is to support organisations in booking Covid-secure venues in multiple locations across the UK. Live-streaming technology enables delegates at various ‘We’re

Good to Go’ certified venues to attend the same event, with those who can’t attend in person experiencing it virtually.

ECO-FRIENDLY EVENTS

Along with safety, the other S on everyone’s lips is sustainability, but businesses cannot simply pay lip service to the issue. BCD’s McCabe and Darlaston say it is one of the hottest discussions with their clients. “It is part of the whole programme from policy management, destination/venue selection, on-site checklists, tracking and reporting.”

On a national level, the UK government has announced plans to set out a blueprint on holding more sustainable, low-carbon, international business events in its Tourism Recovery Plan. Visit Britain and Visit England are also developing itineraries that support responsible tourism, champion the use of public transport, and promote secondary destinations to spread economic benefits beyond honeypot attractions.

Insight from Amex GBT’s 2022 Global Meetings and Events Forecast reveals that 83 per cent of respondents said their organisations take sustainability into account when planning meetings and events. “Your agency should be able to help you source providers that offer greener venues and operations,” Bason says. Factors to consider include minimising water and paper usage, food wastage and single-use plastic, applying energy-saving measures and using local, ethical producers. Events planners seem to have pivoted to using only digital marketing materials, with WTM London, for example, emailing post-event digital ‘goodie bags’ to guests.

However sustainable in-person gatherings may be, many would understandably question the carbon footprint of travelling to these events. “There’s an argument to say that an event is greener,” Thompson says, explaining that arguably a good six months’ worth of meetings are taking place over a three-day period. This trend has been furthered by the pandemic, with few wanting to travel for inconsequential meetings. As an example, the majority of interviews for this feature were carried out in a single day at WTM London. “Face-to-face meetings are going to be more meaningful. The outcome of events, such as IBTM’s, could be stronger than in previous years,” Thompson adds.

There are also other means of reducing the impact of your travel. Amex GBT’s travel and expense platform Neo offers a carbon emission filter for air and rail, automatic carbon reporting, and electric and hybrid car options. Organisers should also promote green forms of transport to/from the event, and within the city during the delegates’ stay. Eurostar, NS and Avanti, for instance, ran a special ‘climate train’ between the Netherlands and Scotland for the COP26 conference – organisers said that a passenger’s carbon footprint from one flight between Amsterdam and London equated to seven Eurostar journeys.

THE FUTURE OF THE MICE INDUSTRY

Aside from sustainability, factors such as diversity, inclusion and wellbeing have also been highlighted as important considerations in the year ahead and beyond. “There is a global consensus that sustainability must be a key factor in meeting programmes, and a growing understanding that choosing inclusivity and equity creates more opportunity,” Bason says.

Events are also set to be more tailored in the future thanks to advances in technology. Through virtual events, planners have collected data that has enabled them to better understand the behaviour and interests of customers. “Insights on attendance and the overall event experience can help shape future events,” McCabe and Darlaston add.

Some 20 months ago the MICE industry was on the brink of extinction. It’s now in the midst of a renaissance, with the potential for better-organised, greener and more productive meetings. We hope to see you in-person soon.

STATS

  • 43 per cent increase in the UK’s business events industry by 2026 (from 2019 levels)
  • It will be worth £27.6 billion (up from £19.4 billion in 2019)

Cities Restart report, The Importance of International Conferences and Business Events to Restarting City Economies, September 2021

  • 67 per cent of respondents believe that in-person meetings will return to pre-pandemic levels within one to two years
  • 81 per cent of events are expected to have an in-person element in 2022
  • 64 per cent of respondents reported increased budgets for 2022, signalling industry growth

Amex GBT 2022 Global Meetings and Events

  • 80 per cent of event planners across the UK and Europe are sourcing in-person events
  • 46 per cent of respondents are planning to organise hybrid events
  • 42 per cent cited incorporating a virtual audience when asked to indicate the biggest changes they would make to their in-person events compared to 2019

Cvent 2021 Planner Sourcing Report: Europe Edition, October 2021

  • 40 million visits to the UK in 2019 – almost a quarter of which were for business with a total spend of £28.4 billion Visit Britain/Visit England
  • The US is the UK’s most valuable inbound tourism market with 4.5 million worth of visits in 2019 and spend of £4.2 billion (Visit Britain); £200 billion in annual trade between the two countries (Business Travel Association)