Coming off a strong year in 2024, meeting and event professionals are optimistic that bookings, headcounts and larger events are on the agenda for 2025 — along with costs that are rising even faster than expectations.

While new potential headwinds may arise due to changing policies that could impact international attendance and participation on the part of U.S. government employees, 2025 has kicked off in a wave of optimism, according to two recent industry reports.

Last year ended on a high note, according to “Meetings Industry Trends: Q4 and Year-End 2024 Results,” a report by Knowland. Event organizers in general experienced significant growth, particularly those in the charity/non-profit sectors. Tech-related meetings also boomed to meet demand from companies in that sector seeking conferences and seminars on innovation and digital transformation. Healthcare meetings also ended the year strongly, with demand being driven by the need for large-scale events attendees could participate in to learn new advancements in both healthcare and medical technology.

The corporate market in general had a strong finish to the year, accounting for about 63% of the meeting demand both in the last quarter of 2024 and for the year as a whole. Social, military, educational, religious and fraternal (SMERF) meetings accounted for another 15.5% of the 2024 meetings market, even as association demand slowed, according to Knowland’s data.

The strong showing for the meetings market last year has meeting and event professionals optimistic that the year ahead will continue that trajectory. According to the 2025 State of the Meetings Industry, an annual report from ConferenceDirect and global integrated hotel technology and services company Cendyn, 41% of planners expect an increase in bookings, with 29.1% forecasting growth of up to 10% and 12.4% projecting a boost of 20% or above.

A full 65% anticipate an increase in attendees in 2025 — and 40% of those believe they’ll see a rise of up to 10%. Another 18.5% expect an increase in attendees between 11% and 20%, while a fortunate 5.6% are projecting more than 20% growth.

As one might expect by the anticipated rise in headcounts, expectations are high that larger meetings are also coming back. Until now, meetings with fewer than 200 attendees dominated the market. While smaller meetings — those with 100 or fewer attendees — are still expected to be in the majority, medium events with 100 to 250 attendees accounted for almost 36% of all bookings in 2024, with larger events with more than 500 attendees constituting almost a third of last year’s bookings. The planning and booking cycle also is starting to shift. While almost half of bookings last year happened within the year, now there is a growing number of meetings being scheduled three to five years out.

More Survey Highlights

• Communications between hotels and planners are improving, with around 65% saying they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the responses they received from hotels and other venues. However, this is still an area that could stand more improvement, with 25% feeling neutral on the topic, 7% feeling dissatisfied, and almost 2% saying they were very dissatisfied.

• Rising costs also are expected to continue straining meeting budgets and potentially having a negative effect on the quality of events. Planners and venues are working creatively to cut costs by shortening meetings and reducing activities and food and beverage options.

• Alternative destinations are another way planners are seeking to cut costs without cutting event quality. The study found that 90% of respondents are considering moving their meetings to secondary markets to avoid cutting other quality options, including having to move down in the scale of hotel chain they use. “We have seen a rise in secondary markets as popular destinations, with 90 percent of planners considering them a cost-saving alternative,” said Larry Hanson, CMO of ConferenceDirect. “That being said, planners will prioritize venues capable of making a lasting impression. Respondents emphasized that there is little room for compromise regarding event quality and the pressure is on to deliver exceptional attendee experiences.”

• Planners fully anticipate that the rapidly rising cost of AV and F&B they experienced last year will continue through 2025. Most think prices for F&B, AV and other event tech will increase by up to 20% this year, with some thinking these services could shoot up as much as 50%. But they also know these are mission-critical for the success of their events. Sixty percent said that advanced AV support is their top priority in their RFPs. More than half, 53%, said the same for catering, while 40% prioritize logistical support. Attendee experience add-ons also are significant, said almost 40%. Less critical, but still key to enhancing the overall appeal of an event, are event décor (almost 21%) and wellness activities (13%).

• Digital RFPs are the way to go in 2025. More than half said they prefer getting personalized digital proposals to their RFPs from hoteliers. One area that more groups are finding essential is sustainability, from F&B options to waste reduction practices to recycling.

“It is an exciting time to be a part of the meetings and event industry. The outlook for 2025 is optimistic, with more than 40 percent of meeting planners expecting bookings to increase and 65 percent anticipating higher attendance even as rising costs remain a significant challenge for planners,” Michael Bennet, President of Cendyn said. “Finding a balance between high costs and delivering an amazing customer experience will define winning venues in 2025. We look forward to enabling our customers to make every guest interaction an opportunity to nurture relationships and maximize profitability.”

For more forecasts for 2025, check out the Fearless Forecasts in the Spring issue of MeetingMentor magazine.