Forecasts show positive growth for corporate meetings in North America next year

Meeting planners in North America are optimistically gearing up for a busy 2019 as American Express forecasts a +1.3% rise in corporate meeting activity for next year.

Summary:

• American Express forecasts a +1.3% rise in corporate meeting activity in North America for next year in its annual Global Meetings and Events Forecast report;
• It expects increases across all meeting types, with the largest growth in client advisory boards and internal meetings;
• There's been some shuffling of top meeting destinations in the US, according to American Express, but Orlando, Las Vegas and Chicago still head the list.

The company recently released its annual Global Meetings and Events Forecast report, and overall, meeting planners in North America expect an increase in the level of meetings across all types, with the largest growth - 1.33% - in client advisory boards, and a 1.23% increase in internal meetings.

In Canada, meeting professions expect the number of incentives and special events to grow the most, and predict a slight reduction in the number of internal meetings. For the US, planners see the largest increases in internal and team training meetings and customer advisory boards in 2019, with modest growth across other meeting types.

"Reflecting a very strong jobs market, respondents in North America indicated that internal meetings would continue to grow in 2019 as companies work to onboard and train new employees," the report concluded.

Attendee numbers for meetings of all types in the region should also increase next year. Conference and tradeshows and senior leadership and board meetings will post the lowest growth at 0.7% against projections of overall growth of 1%. Planners in Canada believe product launches and incentives to grow will post the largest increase during 2018 at 2%.

There's been some shuffling of top meeting destinations in the US, according to American Express. Atlanta and San Diego have traded the fourth and fifth spots, while Washington DC fell from sixth to ninth place. San Francisco is a new addition to the top ten, replacing Phoenix in the tenth spot.

TABLE - Orlando and Las Vegas are the largest cities for meetings in the US, while Totonto and Vancouver head the list in CanadaSource: American Express and Cvent 2018