ICCA statistics ‘ reinvented ’
t is no surprise that the annual ICCA destination rankings have changed in format , quite radically , due of course to the effects of Covid .
All comparisons with previous years are pretty much redundant and the association went for the option of ‘ reinventing ’ its avidly awaited report on the international meetings market to show just how its members and associations had coped with the unprecedented situation .
As ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath said in his introduction to the 2020 report : “ You ’ ll find details on international meetings that were supposed to take place with insights into what became of Covid-19 affected meetings . We ’ ve added new categories to represent the full spectrum of solutions that event planners implemented in 2020 ; including virtual and hybrid meetings , postponement , cancellation , and relocation .
“ The report delivers analysis on economic impact , revenue loss and other
Jan key parameters . An examination of the total expenditure in 2019 vs 2020 reveals the industry ’ s strong desire to return to face-to- face meetings . However , in the future , meetings are likely to include elements and best practices from virtual and hybrid events .
You can further see that postponed meetings remain overall loyal to their original destination . In short , they ’ ll be back . And when they return , they are likely to entice larger audiences of delegates eager to meet face-to-face within the necessary safety protocols . Meanwhile , virtual and hybrid events have helped associations expand their audience and keep members engaged with their activities . These are all positive developments that can guide top-level decision makers within associations , sectors , and local governments .
“ The 2020 ICCA Statistics Report not only provides a closer look at what was , it gives a clearer view of what is ahead . We at ICCA World steadfastly believe that
Affected % of meetings by month ( 2020 ). Only events with a known month were included ( 7,807 )
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
25 %
30 %
38 %
37 %
44 %
43 %
49 %
49 %
52 %
57 %
0 % 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected
97 %
92 %
29 % 16 % 29 %
8 % 8 %
10 %
27 %
10 %
22 %
19 %
13 %
10 %
12 %
52 %
46 %
24 %
24 %
42 %
26 %
33 %
33 %
27 %
9 %
8 %
6 % the global association meetings industry is entering a brighter , stronger future .”
In total , 8,409 unique meetings were identified which were either held or planned in 2020 . In last year ’ s report the number of unique events was 13,252 . This significant drop-off can partially be explained by the fact that numerous event websites were taken offline prematurely or were never established in the first place as a consequence of the pandemic , making it difficult to identify these meetings for 2020 . ICCA acknowledges that collecting the data has been challenging for members in 2020 due the effect of the lockdowns and redundancies . Response rates were , it says , “ extremely low ” compared to previous years . However , a report has been compiled and contains some strong statistics to digest .
The total number of events ( 8,409 ) was broken down by status and month and the results showed 44 % postponed , 30 % virtual , 14 % cancelled , 9 % unaffected , 2 % hybrid , and 1 % relocated .
The graph for the affected percentage of meetings by month ( 2020 ) was as below , left .
As opposed to the number of meetings mentioned earlier , the number of attendees shows that Postponed ( 38 %) and Virtual ( 37 %) meetings make up a similar sized segment of the total number of attendees , signifying that , although the number of virtual meetings was lower than the number of postponed meetings , the number of attendees in these meetings was higher , as was the average number of attendees .
See table below for average nr . of attendees per status :
Postponed : 420 Cancelled : 492 Virtual : 603
Hybrid : 311 Relocated : 943 Unaffected : 367
Affected percentage of meetings by size ( 2020 ) As seen in the graph top right , the majority of smaller meetings ( 50-149
14 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 113