News

Cost Is Increasingly a Key Site Selection Factor

July 25, 2024

Cost and value for the money are increasingly important factors event planners consider in the site selection process.

Cost and value for the money are becoming more important than ever for corporate event planners, association planners, event agencies and incentive and reward agencies in North America, Europe and the UK, according to the 2024 Planner Sentiment Report. The newly released report is the fourth annual analysis released by The Business of Events, a global think tank and advocacy network for the business events industry.

Cost and value for the money each tracked one point higher in all three regions than this area of sentiment did in the group’s 2023 research results. This finding is not surprising given the increased pressure most planners are feeling this year due to inflation effects on the costs associated with planning meetings and events, including venue and ancillary costs.

Also up a point overall is the importance in the destination brand to the site selection decision-making process as planners seek a more personalized and engaging experience for their attendees. Equity and diversity also are up over last year, though more so in the UK and Europe than in North America.

As these areas increase in importance, sustainability is becoming less of a key factor, the report found. Business of Events asked some of the survey participants to learn more about the reasons behind the drop, which was particularly prevalent in the UK and Europe. “While sustainability is still considered an important issue, we believe that while there is a degree of ‘sustainability fatigue’ due to the level of focus on this topic over recent years, there is also a feeling that the need for strong sustainability practices, especially within venues, has made it become more of a utility requirement, and therefore expected, rather than something which is seen as value added,” the report authors said.

There are some differences when you break down the results by region, however. For North American planners, safety and security was the top consideration, with accessibility/transport/ease of travel, cost/value for the money, and destination welcome all tying for second place. In a tie for third place for North American planners were destination/city brand and destination support, followed by equity/diversity, food/hospitality and sustainability/social impact (in another tie). The least important of the sentiment factors included in the study for North American planners was cultural identity.

Business of Events, which was created and is managed by brand communications agency davies tanner, used both desk-based research and direct engagement across its buyer database and social media channels to collect the data for the report. It surveyed its audience over a three-week period this spring, asking them to rank 10 separate sentiment areas from 1 (least important) to 10 (very important) to their site-selection decision-making process. Business of Events also holds invitation-only events each year and works with ICCA as part of its Global Advocacy Alliance. It also manages the IBTM Forum for Advocacy in partnership with IBTM World.