Nashville experienced strong growth for meetings and events since last year at 31.5%, according to Knowland’s sales intelligence platform. Las Vegas came in second seeing 20.3% year-over-year growth. Overall, U.S. industry growth of meetings and events increased by 12.8%.
Nashville was the hot spot for conventions and meetings, bolstered by healthcare and financial/banking as its top industry drivers. Music City’s average attendance was 103, and the average meeting space used was 2,762 sq. ft.
- Year-over-year comparison – October 2023 event volume increased 12.8% over October 2022.
- Top five markets (by event percentage growth) – Nashville led the top 25 U.S. markets with healthcare meetings, followed by financial/banking industry events. The following four markets: Las Vegas, Oahu Island, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Los Angeles/Long Beach rounded out the top five growth markets.
Below is additional insight into the top drivers for these markets.
- Nashville: Healthcare, financial/banking, consulting, technology and insurance.
- Las Vegas: Technology, healthcare, training/education, travel and charity/non-profit.
- Oahu: Travel, transportation, charity/non-profit, training/education and pharmaceutical/biotech.
- Minneapolis: Manufacturing, charity/non-profit, financial/banking, healthcare and training/education.
- Los Angeles-Long Beach: Charity/non-profit, training/education, healthcare, manufacturing and travel.
- Top markets outside the top 25 (by event percentage growth) – The top overall U.S. markets by year-over-year growth in meetings and events were Fort Myers, FL; Lexington, KY; Delaware; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL; and Harrisburg, PA.