The Meetings Industry Will Be More Sophisticated When the Next Backlash Comes
Photo Credit: Members of the Las Vegas hotel and travel industry participated in Global Meetings Industry Day 2016. U.S. Travel
Skift Take
The Meetings Mean Business Coalition has built a strong war chest of advocacy materials supporting the value of face-to-face meetings, but incoming co-chair Paul Van Deventer says industry organizations should work more closely together to drive global growth.
The global economic recession starting in 2008 struck fear and loathing into the heart of the hospitality and tourism industry when companies started curtailing travel for meetings and conventions.
On top of that, state governments and Capitol Hill started shutting down travel for meetings in the face of public outcry against what constituents perceived as wasteful spending.
Woefully underprepared during the aftermath of the market fall-out, hotels and convention bureaus lacked any data and collective messaging to support the direct impact of meetings on economic spending, jobs, and taxes. So the travel and meetings industries at large rallied in 2009 to develop the Meetings Mean Business Coalition (MMB), which advocates for the value of face-to-face business events.
Paul Van Deventer, CEO of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), was recently named the new co-chair for MMB, along with returning co-chair Richard Harper, executive VP of HelmsBriscoe, a global conference p
