August U.S. group meetings volume saw a 25.5% increase from July, according to Knowland.
The top 25 markets continue to dominate the growth metrics for number of meetings. This is strong performance as earlier in the year growth was led by the secondary and tertiary markets.
“August was a surprising month,” said Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland. “With all the news about the Delta variant, we anticipated there would be a drop in meetings this month. However, the opposite occurred, not only was there growth, but it was higher than the prior month. Additionally, we saw the top 25 markets continue their dominance as the biggest growth markets. The top 25 markets are key to the overall rebound of the U.S. market. Hopefully, this trend will continue in the coming months.”
Other findings:
The average number of attendees per event in August 2021 was 68, compared to 61 in August 2019.
The average space used in August 2021 was 2,490 sq. ft., while meetings in August 2019 averaged 2,216 sq. ft. While the square footage was higher in August 2021 than in August 2019, the average space per attendee is the same. This is the first time reported since the start of the pandemic.
The top five growth markets in August were Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, DC.
The corporate segment represents 60.8% of meeting and event business, with the healthcare and technology segments taking the lead as the largest industry segments.