Meeting Planners Aim to Reduce Damage to Local Communities
Photo Credit: Event attendees sit in small groups outside at a venue in Devon, England. Meeting planners are beginning to choose less popular locations for events in response to overtourism. Flickr / Transition Network
Skift Take
Companies have realized that climate change dramatically affects their bottom line, and many are giving planners the go-ahead to address sustainability in a more meaningful way.
Company meetings and events happen frequently, ranging from the small to the very large, often involving travel, as well as catered food and organized activities. This all means that the events industry has a significant impact on the environment and the well-being of local communities, whether or not venues and planners are ready to admit the extent of it.
In the past few years, companies have begun to prioritize sustainability, but much of it has been optics, meant to appeal to a consumer base increasingly worried about the environment. But now, this is changing a bit. Companies are giving meeting planners the freedom to go beyond surface initiatives, organizing events that don’t just pay lip service to sustainability but actually make a measurable and positive impact
