London, Barcelona and Madrid are – in that order – the three most popular destinations for meetings and events in Europe next year, followed by Amsterdam and Paris, according to the new annual report from American Express GBT Meetings & Events.
In last year's edition, Spain's two largest cities topped the podium, beating London, Paris and Manchester. Madrid has dropped two places, moving from first to third place while Barcelona remains in second position.
The survey reveals regional differences in the industry's outlook over the next year with European professionals expecting moderate activity growth next year compared to respondents from North America and Latin America.
Respondents say 52% would be held in a hotel, 48% would require overnight accommodation, and 46% would be in a city other than the corporate headquarters.
North American professionals, meanwhile, say that new technologies will take centre stage in the coming year, keeping them busy, engaged and excited. They believe their profession is in good shape: 84% say they would rate the industry's health an 8 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10.
Some 77% of respondents in North America highlight that attendee numbers have already returned to 2019 levels or will do so by 2024.
In addition, Asia Pacific leads the way in setting carbon neutrality targets, with 63% of organisations already having carbon neutrality targets in their programmes.
Around 67% of respondents in this region say sustainability has been firmly adopted in their meetings' programmes; 74% say sustainability is very or extremely important to their organisation.
Finally, Latin American industry professionals expect hotel room availability to remain the same in 2024 and anticipate increased availability of meeting space, with location availability a concern for nearly half (48%) of respondents.