GMID Facts, How to Participate

The meeting and event industry will come together on March 30, to celebrate 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 #GMID2023 #MeetingsMatter.

GMID History

Meeting and Event Industry Facts

• In 2022, meetings and events generated nearly $100 billion in travel spending in the U.S., directly supporting 600,000 American jobs.
• Domestic group business travel accounted for 38% of all domestic business travel spending in 2022.
• Group business travel spending is forecast to increase 25% in 2023, generating more than $110 billion in travel spending.
• Domestic business travel volume is predicted to reach 80% of 2019 levels in 2022—this equates to 93 million lost business trips.
• While making steady progress, as of the end of 2022, group business travel spending, remained just 67% recovered in 2022—this equates to nearly $40 billion in spending losses.
• While visitations are projected to recover in 2024, business travel spending—once adjusted for inflation—is not projected to recover until 2027.
• Nearly eight in 10 business travelers and decision makers believe the benefits of in-person meetings or event outweigh the convenience of meeting virtually.
• More than eight in 10 executives prefer in-person meetings to virtual contact, noting they create space for tough, timely business decisions and foster more complex strategic thinking.
• As a result of decreased restrictions, rescheduled events and pent-up demand for face-to-face interactions, demand for meetings and events is expected to continue to accelerate.

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 host 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, March 30. Registration is free. Learn more at Event Registration.

Post on your social media channels using our Social Media Guide.

• It is critical for our 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 us to reach more than 8.5 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 300 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. Last year, some of New York’s most 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 #GMID2023 Toolkit to help meeting professionals get involved with information such as facts about the industry, social media guides and more.