Surveying 140 event venues, suppliers, agents and destinations, the quarterly benchmarking report reveals that, on average, almost half (41%) of forecasted revenue for 2025 is already confirmed.
Despite marking a 10% drop from last year, there is optimism amongst the sector that a steady flow of enquiries will support these revenue forecasts. This includes contributions from international events, which currently account for an average 12% of forecasted revenue in 2025.
While businesses focus on securing revenue, they continue to grapple with recruitment challenges. Almost half of respondents (48%) have found recruitment “somewhat challenging” over the past 12 months, with 18% describing it as “very challenging”. The biggest barriers include increased competition for candidates, a lack of recruitment resources, and high staff turnover.
Reinforcing the importance of talent retention, organisations have introduced a range of measures over the past 12 months. This includes more than half (53%) of respondents implementing improved work-life balance initiatives, while 38% have enhanced pay and benefits packages. This comes as the need for better work-life balance challenges is recognised as the primary reason employees leave, followed by insufficient pay.
Other areas explored include Instant Book, which is currently being offered by a third (33%) of venues in the UK business meetings and events sector. Elsewhere, insights on event contracts revealed that a quarter of respondents experienced significant disputes in the last 12 months, as 6 in 10 (62%) highlight the challenges of cancellation policies.
The February 2025 MIA Insights can be downloaded here: https://mia-uk.org/Insight-Surveys.
