Winning Strategies in Destination Marketing

Meeting Planners Reveal Needs and Concerns in 4th Edition of Business Events Study

Development Counsellors International has released the fourth edition of “A View from Meeting Planners: Winning Strategies in Destination Marketing,” revealing insights into meeting planners’ site selection journey as we exit the pandemic. 

This study reveals how decision makers form perceptions of destinations and outlines the best marketing and sales practices to attract business events.

Highlights:

• New Concerns: 73% of respondents report they are most concerned about cancellation policies before any other pandemic issue. Pandemic concerns, however, affected most all of the results throughout the study.
• New Top Resources: Respondents report that they rely most on destination management companies (DMCs), beating out DMOs/CVBs for the first time. And the travel press is alive and thriving as news and magazine articles nabbed the top spot for respondents forming their perceptions of cities, states and countries.
• New Digital Outlook: It’s a virtual world and we’re all just moving through it. As a tool for both marketing and communication, LinkedIn is the most-favored platform, followed by Facebook, but Instagram is making large leaps. Virtual meetings have climbed to become mainstays of the industry.
• New Top Destinations: The pandemic has upended where planners are looking to hold future events. Among preferred meetings and events destinations worldwide are London, Singapore, San Diego, Cancun, Puerto Rico and a tie between Cape Town and Dubai.

Have a question about this study or our business events sales and marketing services? Reach out to Karyl Leigh Barnes at [email protected] or Daniella Middleton at [email protected].