The Covid-19 pandemic canceled conferences all over the world and losses for those attending as well as vendors that support conferences skyrocketed. Annually business conferences typically generate $1 trillion in direct spending. This spending plays out in airfare, hotel stays dining, and transportation. When conferences were canceled major cities loss money. For example, SXSW in Austin, Texas lost $350 million in direct losses and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain saw $480 million in direct losses as well. These stats also don’t account for profits that the company hosting the event would have made, the effect on local shops and attractions that would have made money off of attendees, and any business generated from the networking that is had at these events. This sudden change has caused one positive trend and that is the rise of local conferences. As people are more reluctant to pay for travel and other costs many are looking towards more local events or even virtual conferences. Find out more about this rising trend in the following infographic.
Infographic source: https://www.dataconnectors.com/virtual-event-infographic/
