Knowland: Phoenix ranks as January’s meetings volume leader

The Phoenix market led the U.S. meetings and events industry by volume for January, according to Knowland. The Arizona capital city was followed by Orlando and Washington, DC. The leading industry driver for meetings was technology across four of the top five markets.

“The United States meetings and events business is back, growing both year over year and over historical baseline years,” said Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland. “The January number seems a bit outlandish but it illustrates how much Omicron impacted that month. As we move deeper into the year, the comparisons will tighten. Looking at the growth markets, it’s nice to see tertiary markets with the largest growth. These should be exciting to watch in the coming months as growth spreads even more.”

Meetings and events volume in January increased 88.9% over the same month last year and 11.1% growth over 2019.

Phoenix was the lead market by volume, hosting primarily pharma/biotechnology, followed by healthcare and financial/banking. Orlando closed out the month with technology groups at the top and healthcare and pharma coming in second and third. The next three markets: Washington, DC; Atlanta; and Dallas rounded out the top five markets. The chart below provides additional insight into the top drivers for these markets.

Buffalo, NY; San Juan, PR; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Tulsa, OK; and Detroit realized the largest percentage growth over last January.