Meetings and events in August increased 6.7% over July and 136.1% over August 2021, according to data from Knowland.
“Typically, August experiences a minor dip from July,” said Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland, “But August 2022 increased slightly, leading the way into September and October, two of the strongest months historically. Additionally, August recovered to 85.3% of 2019 levels, the third month in a row where recovery levels have exceeded 80%. This bodes well for the fall and ongoing recovery for the industry.”
- The average number of attendees per event for August 2022 was 108, compared to 68 in August 2021 and 92 in August 2019.
- The average space used in August 2022 was 2,670 sq. ft. Meetings averaged 2,490 sq. ft. in August 2021 and 2,896 sq. ft. in 2019. Proportionally from a per person (p/p) perspective, the 2022 meeting space used an average of 25 sq. ft. p/p as opposed to 37 sq. ft. p/p in 2021 and 31 sq. ft. p/p in 2019.
- The top five growth markets for August, in order, compared to July were Denver; Dallas; San Jose, CA; Raleigh-Durham, NC; and Phoenix.
- The corporate segment represents 63.5% of the meetings and events business, with healthcare, technology and training/education taking the lead as the largest industry segments. From a recovery standpoint compared to August 2019 levels, online retailer, tobacco, construction, urban infrastructure and agriculture were the segments at the highest level of recovery captured last month.
