On April 11, the meeting and event industry will unite for Global Meetings Industry Day, an international day of advocacy and education designed to spotlight the importance and economic impact of business meetings, trade shows, incentive travel, exhibitions, conferences and conventions, along with the power of face-to-face meetings.
Here are some key facts from the U.S. Travel Association about the economic impact of meetings and events and ways to participate in #GMID2024 #MeetingsMatter.
#MeetingsMatter: Global Meetings Industry Day 2024
Meeting and Event Industry, Travel Facts
-
In 2023, meetings and events generated $119 billion in travel spending in the U.S., directly supporting 600,000 American jobs.
-
Meetings and events accounted for 42% of all business travel spending and 11% of all travel spending.
-
Overall, travelers in the U.S. directly spent $1.3 trillion, which produced an economic footprint of $2.8 trillion and supported more than 15 million American jobs.
-
Travel generated $89 billion in state and local tax revenue.
-
Each segment of travel plays an essential role in boosting the economy, contributing billions in travel spending:
-
Domestic leisure: $855 billion
-
Total business: $294 billion
-
International inbound: $155 billion
-
Air passenger growth remains positive through early 2024, up 6% versus the prior year. Foreign visits remained strong, up 24% year over year.
-
Group room demand within the top 25 markets displayed solid growth of 9% relative to 2023.
-
The share of travelers reporting having travel plans in the next six months increased to 93% in January from 92% in December.
How to Participate in Global Meetings Industry Day
Highlight a meeting in your community and the positive impact it had on the local economy.
-
In-person meetings provide undeniable value to people, businesses and communities, and their return will accelerate the travel industry’s recovery.
-
Not only do meetings drive education, knowledge and understanding on critical subjects, but they also provide substantial benefits to local economies, injecting new revenue and stimulating activity for small businesses in host communities.
Host your own event.
-
Join participants across the globe by hosting an event to honor the activation. Last year, there were GMID events in 30 countries.
-
MPI’s GMID 12-hour digital broadcast begins at 6 a.m. CT on Thursday, April 11. Registration is free. Learn more at Event Registration.
Post on social media using the U.S. Travel Social Media Guide.
-
It is critical for your message to reach both business leaders and policymakers. One way to reach both audiences is to amplify the reasons why meetings matter on your social media platforms—across both individual handles and organizational accounts. Last year, the industry’s ability to unite for this social media activation enabled the industry to reach more than 10 million users across the globe.
Engage with the media, local elected officials and members of Congress.
-
Remind the media and policymakers that meetings matter by using our key messages document and social media guide to gain media attention surrounding the economic benefits, interpersonal benefits and societal benefits to in-person meetings and events. As a result of last year’s participation and utilization of this tool, GMID received nearly 365 media mentions.
Turn blue for the day.
-
GMID’s official color is blue, and many across the industry recognize the importance of this activation by turning their channels—and in some cases their buildings—blue to honor this activation. In past years, some well-known landmarks participated, including the Empire State Building, the Freedom Tower, Rockefeller Center and more.
The U.S. Travel Association and the Meetings Mean Business coalition have produced a #GMID2024 Toolkit to help meeting professionals get involved with information such as facts about the industry, social media guides and more.