The results of the Meeting & EventBarometer 2011, the definitive annual survey of the events market in Germany show: The optimism of the industry has returned. More events, more participants and bigger budgets underline the fact that the worst of the economic crisis has long passed. The future projections are also extremely optimistic.

In 2010, a total of 2.69 million events were held (up by 9.4 percent compared with 2009), which were visited by 323 million participants (an increase of 6.9 percent) - that's a record (the previous peak was in 2008 with 318 million participants). The share of foreign participants remained stable at 5.8 percent (up by 0.3 percent).

Around 40 percent of providers surveyed in the study report that they held more events in 2010 than in 2008, for eleven percent the number remained at the same level as in 2008. “This is a strong result, because in 2008 - before the crisis-induced decline of events in Germany in 2009 - the market was moving at a very high level”, said Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the GCB. “It proves the quality of the supply that the demand has recovered so quickly”, said Joachim König, President of the EVVC.

The supply side remained relatively constant: 6,420 meeting and event venues can be found in Germany (plus / minus zero percent). The details: There are now 1,557 convention and event centers (up 0.2 percent), 3,173 Conference Hotels (minus 0.5 percent) and 1,690 event locations (plus 1.3 percent) available to organizers according to the results of the Meeting & Event Barometer.

The survey also provides insight into how vendors and operators assess the significance of the different types of events. Therefore “meetings” will in the future have the highest importance, followed in second place by “Conventions” while “incentives” and “Events” trail in third and fourth place.

67 percent report higher budgets than in 2009
In 2010, 67 percent of the surveyed operators had higher budgets than in the previous year, another sign that the worst is behind us. Only 33 percent said they have fewer financial resources. In particular, the proportion of the mid-sized budgets has increased: 26 percent of operators had a budget of between 100,000 and 500,000 Euros per year, which corresponds with a growth of five percentage points compared to the previous year. In contrast, the proportion of budgets between half a million and one million has slightly decreased (minus three percent).

Confidence in the industry: An optimistic look into the future
“Germany's image as a meeting and event destination is getting better and better” - 91 percent of surveyed providers and organizers believe in this statement. “The optimism has returned to the industry. Operators and service providers alike are aware of the many benefits the Germany as a conference destination have to offer and that their importance has continued to rise as a result of the economic crisis. Above all, this is due to the excellent value for money”, said Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the GCB. Moreover, the German regions are well connected with approximately 40 commercial airports, one of the densest railway networks and one of the most highly developed motorway networks in the world, allowing for affordable, convenient and flexible travel.

Buoyed by this self-awareness and the economic upturn of recent months a large majority said that there is an economic upswing according to the survey (78 percent of surveyed providers and operators). Last year only about half of respondents were of this opinion.

The entire study can be found at http://www.evvc.org/de/aktuelles/news-aus-verband-und-branche/MeBa2011.html.