DMCs Report Strong Business Outlook for 2015
October 13, 2014Continuing the trend of the past three semi-annual member surveys, the majority of DMC members of the Association of Destination Management Executives International (ADMEI) are reporting that 3Q 2014 was better than 3Q 2013. The outlook for 4Q 2014 is positive — 77 percent of the members think it will be as good as or better than 4Q 2013. However, 42 percent of DMCs responding note that the time interval between RFP and event continues to decrease, with 20 percent reporting that they are increasingly asked to respond within two weeks prior to the event date.
Overall, 2014 will be more profitable for 62 percent of the DMCs responding compared to 2013, and 57 percent anticipate that their business in 2015 will increase, based on current bookings. These responses are consistent with the results from the 3Q 2013 survey, indicating that DMCs continue to enjoy more business that is profitable — a sure sign of strength in the meetings industry.
For the first time, ADMEI surveyed its members about which industry events they choose to spend their marketing dollars on and why. IMEX America is the choice for exhibiting of 92 percent of the respondents, followed by IMEX Frankfurt. IncentiveWorks, AIBTM, EIBTM and regional expos are each used by one-third of the respondents. DMCs prefer to participate in their location booth (city/state/country) but other popular booth choices are consortium booths or having one representative in a location booth and another in a consortium booth. Eleven percent have their own booth.
DMCs prefer industry shows that focus on corporate and/or third-party meeting professionals as attendees and pre-scheduled appointments by attendees. These factors far outweigh the location of the show and the marketing the expo does for attendees.
Approximately 20 percent of the survey participants are from outside U.S. and Canada, an increase in international participation that mirrors the increase in international membership in ADMEI.