From NBC News: Business travel’s four-year crawl out the pandemic was on track to continue this year, but the US trade war has scrambled that outlook. “The big word is uncertainty,” said Suzanne Neufang, CEO of the Global Business Travel Association, which had forecast worldwide spending to surge to $1.64 trillion in 2025, up from…
From Skift Meetings: President Trump’s second term began with a series of executive orders that immediately impacted the meetings industry. On Inauguration Day, January 20, Trump signed the Executive Order, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” It eliminates federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. All federal DEI staff were also placed…
From Irish Examiner: Academics are cancelling planned conferences and seminars in the US because of the risk of harassment and interrogation by immigration officials. That is the warning from Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin. It comes as immunologist Professor Luke O’Neill revealed he had “never been quizzed…
From Travel Weekly: Five members of the Brand USA board were reportedly fired by email on Friday, as the Trump Administration moves to mark its stamp on the US tourism industry. According to the industry title Skift, the decision came from the White House. The five members fired from the board were reportedly chair Elliott…
From ASAE: ASAE’s latest Insight Update report highlights how shifting federal policies are reshaping association meeting attendance, particularly international participation. Based on survey data from over 200 association CEOs across diverse sectors, the report examines the ripple effects of these changes, and the strategies associations are employing to adapt. This research is part of an…
ECA and its public policy counsel, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, have prepared the following detailed analysis of recent tariff developments and what they mean for the business and professional events industry. Please bookmark this page for future updates as circumstances warrant. On April 17, the Office of the United States Trade Representative took action…
From Skift Meetings: Tariffs are impacting the live events industry, and the Live Events Coalition and its allies are stepping up pressure on lawmakers to act. AV and production equipment, raw materials, decor, furnishings, food and beverage, and technology will all increase in cost, said Wendy Porter, vice chair of government affairs for the Live…
From Quest Means Business: “We do get the impression that the beef here is really with the Trump administration, not the American people necessarily.” Skift Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit found that many travelers staying away from the U.S. due to Trump are happy to come once his presidency is over…
From Skift Meetings, by Andrea Doyle: The Trump administration’s tariff policies are sending ripples through global trade, and in the process, they are impacting the global trade show business, said Kai Hattendorf, CEO of HTF Business Events Expertise, and the former CEO of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry. “If permanent, this isn’t…
From Skift Meetings: Meeting professionals have been navigating a landscape where access, funding, and conference attendance are no longer guaranteed, said Pat Schaumann, president of Schaumann Consulting Group. Schaumann is also the director of Meeting Professional International’s Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate (HMCC) program. In 2025, the U.S. was expected to host over 1.5 million medical…
From Smart Meetings: Four years into an experiment to replace an annual spring event in Washington, D.C., with a collaborative concentration of events organizations all gathering in the same place, Business Events Industry Week (BEIW) has built some popular must-attend features and announced that other pieces will shake off, either going away altogether or moving….
From Skift Meetings: As U.S.-Canada tariffs take hold and cross-border meeting attendance dips, one veteran planner is helping associations rethink US-Canada event strategies. Some associations are moving events from the US to Canada, where favorable exchange rates, easier visa processes, and lower costs make it an appealing alternative. As the US dollar weakens under new…
By Kai Hattendorf: 2024 was the best year ever for the trade show industry globally by revenues. 2025 likely won’t be. Uncertainties around an aggressive, tariffs-driven challenge to global trade from the new U.S. administration are shaking markets and economies around the world. If high import tariffs announced by the U.S. administration are here to…
By Michiel Gen, Partner, Stakeholder Management, Exempla Management & Consulting : The recent Insight Update published by ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership highlights the growing pressures faced by U.S.-based professional societies, particularly in healthcare and education. Reductions in federal grants, changes in tax policy and tightening DEI policies are threatening the financial health and…
From Destination Canada: In a world of uncertainty, tourism is one of Canada’s most stable and high-performing sectors, producing a total economic impact of $252 billion and driving growth in over 5,000 communities from coast to coast to coast. An independent report from Tourism Economics clearly demonstrates that the travel and tourism sector is a…
From PCMA: According to a new Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA) statement, the latest round of proposed tariffs will “increase costs for business and professional event organizers, exhibitors, and attendees alike.”When Convene spoke in December with Tommy Goodwin, vice president of Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA), tariffs imposed on U.S. trading partners didn’t top the…
In recent days, the executive order introducing new reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners has led to significant concern within the U.S. business and professional events industry. These tariffs will increase costs for business and professional event organizers, exhibitors, and attendees alike. They also send a signal to international exhibitors and attendees that the U.S….
From Skift Meetings: President Donald Trump has imposed new tariffs on dozens of nations, including a new 34% tariff on Chinese goods. Many countries have announced countermeasures, escalating trade tensions that could have significant ramifications for the global meetings sector. In response, the Live Events Coalition, originally formed during the Covid crisis but later put…
From AMI: The winds have shifted and optimism has decreased, as a majority of planners say their meetings have been impacted by the new presidential administration. In the latest Meetings Industry PULSE Survey, coproduced and sponsored by Cvent, planner sentiment is clearly shifting. Most planners are less optimistic than they were two months ago, and…
From Skift: Travel is more important than ever to household budgets, but it is not recession proof. As a result, Skift Research is revising down its outlook for global travel. The sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump have raised the risk of recession and the response from financial markets was swift, with a…
From BBC: As the list of nations issuing travel warnings to the US grows, some visitors are opting to boycott it entirely. Here’s why many foreigners are changing their travel plans and what this could mean for Americans. As President Donald Trump implements sweeping new policies, issues tariffs on longtime allies and leads an immigration…
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