Corporate Events Lead Summertime Momentum Gains | Business Travel News

Meetings and events volume in the U.S. increased 334 percent in June 2022 compared with June 2021, according to meetings data provider Knowland, with corporate meetings driving more than 62 percent of the volume. The company has been tracking industry recovery on a monthly basis since January 2021. 

June’s growth, which was not the largest year-over-year comparison for 2022—January saw a 350 percent increase and February 2022 saw a 340 percent increase—surprisingly bucked the traditional expectation that meetings activity drops during the summer months. June’s numbers, in contrast, were 16.6 percent higher than May 2022 in a sequential comparison, showing strong demand patterns. Additionally, Knowland pegged average attendees per event at 117 for June, topping the June 2019 average of 89 attendees per event, but slightly lower than May 2022, which the company tracked at 123.  

“June continued the growth we have seen in the past few months,” said chief product officer Kristi White. “Typically, there is a minor decline in event volume from May to June. So, 16.6 percent growth month over month illustrates the continuing strength of recovery for the U.S.”

The top five growth markets for the month, in order, were Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Salt Lake City. These were not necessarily the locations with the highest meeting and event volume overall. According to Knowland, June’s top five cities for meetings and events by number of gatherings (but not necessarily number of attendees) were Chicago, the Washington D.C. metropolitan area—which includes Maryland and Virginia—Boston, Orlando and Atlanta.  

Corporate meetings dominated the segment, with 62.2 percent of the volume traced back to the sector. Among the most active corporate players were the technology, healthcare and financial and banking sectors. In terms of recovery, the largest growth segments in the corporate event space for the June time period were online retail, urban infrastructure, sports entertainment and media, packing/shipping and tobacco.