Meetings Outlook | Meeting Professionals International

Meetings Outlook

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Welcome to the Winter 2021
Meetings Outlook Report

One year into the pandemic there’s growing optimism across all surveyed metrics—an optimism significantly based on the distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.

Business Conditions

Overall, 65 percent of respondents predict favorable business conditions for the year ahead—a solid improvement over the survey’s summer results in which only 36 percent of respondents said the same.

Betting on Vaccines

53 percent of respondents said that plans for holding their next in-person event are contingent on the distribution of a safe and effective vaccine. With 31 percent of respondents saying their next in-person event may depend on a vaccine, only 16 percent of respondents said their next such event is not contingent on a vaccine. Clearly, once vaccines become more widespread, event professionals expect an increase in activity.

Back to Business?

The vast majority of respondents (86 percent) expect business will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2022 or later. The most common expectation was for some time in 2022, as reported by 49 percent of planners and 42 percent of suppliers.