The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) has released the 9th IAPCO Annual Survey 2015, which shows a busy 2015 for IAPCO members. In 2015, IAPCO members organized an average of 113 events.
While the total number of participants managed rose by 10.6 percent, the number of participants attending events fell from an average of 400 to 368, due potentially to greater specialization, more targeted and relevant audiences, and participants only attending those events that truly benefit their professions, IAPCO said. Yet the average square meter per event rose by 27.2 percent, potentially seeing the confidence return to the industry marketplace, further endorsed by the rise in corporate meetings by 7 percent over the previous year.
Following a rise in 2014, room nights managed by IAPCO members fell in 2015 from 3.817m to 2.429m, leading the organization to question whether room blocks are a thing of the past.
Employment is rapidly returning to the pre-2012 levels, IAPCO said, up by 3.92 percent over 2014 and climbing steadily to over 5,400 for 2015.
In summary, IAPCO members in 2015 organized 8,591 meetings, registered over 3.165m participants, employed 5,429 staff and managed over 804k sqm of exhibition space, all leading to an economic impact to local economies of 5.12b€.