At The Meetings Show APAC 2025, Michael Shoory, Head of APAC Tourism Analysis – Tourism Economics, shared insights on the rebound of MICE activity and business travel globally, and for APAC specifically, and discussed Tourism Economics’ projections for business travel in APAC in coming years, the economic benefits of business and MICE tourism for destinations,…
From Identity, The Human Experience Agency: Events may have a closing date, but their impact shouldn’t. From global agreements to everyday brand moments, this feature explores how to design experiences that leave a lasting legacy, with insights from Identity’s Simon Dunnell and Helen Wright. By their very nature, events feel fleeting. There’s a date, a…
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…
From Skift Meetings: Featuring Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange (ELX), and Kevin Hinton, managing director, group travel, at U.S. Travel Association, this week’s Skift Meetings webinar had one overriding theme — uncertainty. It took Skift Meetings Executive Editor Andrea Doyle several minutes just to describe the numerous repercussions of Trump administration changes so…
From Global Destination Sustainability Movement: If business events’ profits were a country, they’d be in the top 15 in the world. The Events Industry Council notes that “the $1.62 trillion of total GDP supported by global business events would rank the sector as the 13th largest economy globally.” We’ve seen encouraging progress from this vital…
This initiative explores the growing impact of the socioeconomic climate, public safety, accessibility, and social values on destination reputation and the decision-making process of meeting organisers. Contains insights and tools needed for DMOs to anticipate and respond to reputational challenges and strengthen their destination’s competitive positioning. The Full Report from Destinations International can be viewed…
By Colja Dams, CEO & Owner, VOK DAMS: We’re seeing a shift: global events are now moving to Europe and Asia that were once headed to the U.S. World Dealer Conferences, Product Launches, Leadership Meetings – many of these gatherings are being relocated. Bringing together guests from around the world in the U.S.? For now,…
IAPCO, in collaboration with IFES, AIPC, AMCI, and the IAPCO National PCO Association Task Force, invites you to participate in the Global Socio-Political Impact Survey. This survey is designed to gather valuable data from a global network of meetings and events professionals to better understand the short- and long-term impacts of recent global policy changes….
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 BestCities: On 1 April 2025, BestCities Global Alliance and ICCA hosted two insightful sessions to unpack the dynamics of creating lasting impacts through international conferences and celebrating these through the Incredible Impacts Programme. This article captures key takeaways from the collaborative discussions, where industry leaders shared their experiences and offered valuable guidance for prospective…
By Jorge Eduardo Q: In today’s 24/7 news cycle and hyper-connected feeds, event leaders are bombarded by headlines, hot takes, and trending crises every minute. Economic shifts, health emergencies, political strife, and algorithmic sensationalism form a loud backdrop that challenges clarity. Within this noise, strategic discernment becomes not just an asset, but a necessity for…
From IAPCO: Conferences and meetings demonstrate resilience and growth in uncertain times IAPCO celebrates Global Meetings Industry Day 3 April 2025. The membership of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) collectively delivered 19,469 events across the globe in 2024 contributing an economic impact of over €17.8 billion. This represents a €3.54 billion increase…
by Pádraic Gilligan, co-founder, SoolNua: As 2025 unfolds, it’s increasingly difficult to pin down exactly how incentive travel professionals feel about the short- to medium-term outlook for our industry. One thing is clear: sentiment has shifted since 2024. The Incentive Travel Index, released in November 2024, painted a nuanced picture—continued growth in the use and…
From Boardroom, by Senthil Gopinath, CEO, ICCA: It goes without saying that “wellness” goes beyond the basic idea of eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and engaging in physical activity that contributes to cardiovascular health. There’s no shortage of viral videos and social media clickbait encouraging viewers to try the latest powder, pill, detox,…
By Nicola Kastner, CEO of Event Leaders Exchange: Costs are rising. Expectations are not. That gap is one of the biggest risks event professionals face today, and it is not going away anytime soon. This is the third article in my series on the key risks facing the events industry in 2025 and how we,…
From TravelPulse: The Trump Administration’s escalating global trade war poses significant “high-risk consequences” for the U.S. travel industry, including potentially causing sharp declines in travel demand, according to a new report. Published by Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, the report says there is a “risk to the US travel sector should trade disputes and…
By Pádraic Gilligan, Co-Founder, SoolNua: We now live in a global society where conflict, in all its forms, has become the new normal. Game-changing decisions that impact entire industries are being made—and unmade—within 24 hours. Global trade, poverty alleviation programs, pathways to peace, and even fundamental values like inclusiveness are being actively weaponized in a…
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