Meeting’s volume shows signs of continued momentum as the industry recovers
ARLINGTON, Va. — May 4, 2022 — Knowland, the world’s leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, today released its monthly meetings and events data for April with a significant increase of 323 percent over April 2021. Despite the normal cooling factor of the Easter holiday, there was still a 3.7 percent recovery of events from March to April 2022.
• Average attendees greater than 2019 levels – Attendees were ahead of 2019 levels for April with the average number of attendees per event at 118, compared to 63 in April 2021 and 74 in April 2019.
• Average space used per person lower than 2019 – The average space used in April 2022 was 3,185 sq. ft. Meetings in April 2021 averaged 2,640 sq. ft. and 2,322 sq. ft. in April 2019. Proportionally from a per person (p/p) perspective, 2022 meeting space used averaged 27 sq. ft. p/p as opposed to 42 sq. ft p/p in 2021 and 31 sq. ft. p/p in 2019. The lower square footage per person is a sign people are growing even more comfortable meeting in smaller spaces.
• Top five market growth compared to March 2022 – The top five growth markets compared to March (in order) in April were Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, and Kansas City.
• Corporate meetings continue to be the dominant segment – The corporate segment represents 63 percent of meeting and event business with Technology, Healthcare, and Training/Education taking the lead as the largest industry groups. From a recovery standpoint compared to April 2019 levels, Online Retailer, Tobacco, Charity Org/Social Services, and Biotechnology are the segments at the highest level of recovery capture in April.
Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland, said: “The Easter holiday always takes a toll on meetings and events. This month was no exception but even with the holiday, there was moderate growth month over month. Additionally, for April, the market was 66 percent recovered compared to April of 2019. This is stronger than March recovery at 64.7 percent. So, while the month-over-month growth is not as high as prior months, the level of recovery to 2019 is growing.”
About the Data: Insights presented are a result of the analysis of meetings and events data acquired through Knowland data collection and aggregation methods, including field reporting and automated methods of customer and non-customer data collection in primary, secondary, and tertiary markets, as well as its large historical database. View the Knowland hospitality industry meeting activity forecast, the U.S. Meetings Recovery Forecast, on its website.
