The Convention and Meetings Sector – Its Operation and Research Needs Chapter 23 Research Methodologies

What Conventions Mean to a Tourism Area Hotels, restaurants, visitors and convention centers, retail stores, theaters, museums, airlines, and local governments all rely on the revenues generated from convention/trade-show sponsors and their delegates There are jobs created, they fill slow periods of tourism, and create repeat business

Who Holds Meetings It can be separated into two categories:  Association type meetings, and corporate meetings Within these two groups are several others:  Trade shows  Reunions  Regional meetings  Events  Destination Management companies

Present Research Efforts in the Convention Industry Industry Associations:  International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus in which a computerized information network is used to capture demographic historical data on organizations holding meetings  The United States Travel Data Center designed the survey method and analyzed the data

Present Research Efforts in the Convention Industry Trade Publication Research  Several of the trade journals survey their subscribers Research Studies by Universities  Studies conducted of site selection

Future Trends and Research Needs International Market  A need to investigate the nature of this growing market and to segment out the convention traveler from the tour and travel international visitor Teleconferencing  Videoconferencing  Electronic Data Transfers  Computer Graph  Facsimile

Future Trends and Research Needs Negotiations and Contracts  It would be of value to the meetings industry to identify policies regarding standard legal agreements presently employed Meeting Planner  Future research methods might be directed to the role and responsibilities of the meeting planner, changes within the profession, profile studies of both corporate and association planners

Future Trends and Research Needs Research on meeting facilities of the Future The sources of information used by the meeting planners The impact of conference centers Spouse attendance and children

Foreign and Offshore Meeting Trends There has been and ongoing trend to old meetings in overseas locations and foreign countries. Communications Technology has made the 1990s the decade of global orientation and international sharing of knowledge; and the meeting and convention industry will be no exception to these developments

Conclusion The convention and meetings segment of the travel industry is substantial and growing at an increasing rate The income potential available through convention and meetings market can significantly affect the economies of virtually every city and resort The monies generated from convention delegates benefits the entire community and increases the normal cash flow