
In 2025 and beyond, the business events industry expects to see changes in where we attend meetings and events.
Based on many recent predictions, I think a consistent trend in 2025 is that interest in in-person gatherings will be stronger than ever. According to CWT GBTA’s 2025 Global Business Travel Forecast, “Demand for groups, meetings and events (M&E) is extremely strong globally”. “Post-pandemic, there remains a pent-up need to connect with colleagues, customers and business partners.”
GBTA research shows that business travel spending will exceed 2019 levels in 2024, reaching $1.5 trillion, an 11% increase from last year. Growth is expected to continue to gradually slow down, with a CAGR of 7% from 2025 to 2028.
But with many variables and changes — from rising travel costs to post-pandemic travelers prioritizing their physical and mental health and weighing the environmental impact of travel — we can expect some interesting changes in travel patterns going forward.
GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said data shows business travelers are increasingly eschewing one-day business trips in favor of three- to five-day trips because they feel “more thoughtful and more Effective”. This preference for wider time windows means we may be seeing a continuation of another trend we’ve come to know and love: bleisure travel.
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Next year and beyond, where we attend conferences and events will also change. That said, planners will increasingly look to second- and third-tier destinations as alternatives to save money while balancing attendee expectations. Meeting professionals say the host destination accounts for a quarter of the overall attendee experience, according to the Amex GBT Meetings & Events 14th Global Forecast.
This reflects an ongoing trend in leisure known as “destination spoofing”: swapping traditionally popular tourist destinations for less obvious and cheaper alternatives, such as Montreal instead of Paris. And it’s less crowded: Over the summer, thousands of locals showed up at several European tourist hotspots, including Barcelona, to protest tourists taking over their cities. New fees and taxes are being introduced to combat overtourism, but many are skeptical they will stymie the influx of tourists – especially as forecasts predict visitor numbers will continue to rise in popular destinations through 2025.
Therefore, the trend of destination spoofing is likely to continue to grow. While this may be a novel idea to leisure travelers, event professionals have long been taking advantage of the affordable benefits of holding meetings in lower-tier cities. CWT advises planners to “look to secondary cities for meetings and events where demand is currently lower”, adding: “Early booking is crucial.”
Jennifer N. Sethers is a senior editor held.
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