ARLINGTON, Virginia—Knowland announced that the Chicago market led the U.S. meetings and events industry by volume for April 2023. Second place went to Los Angeles-Long Beach, with Washington, D.C. in third. The leading industry driver for meetings was national associations, placing either first or second across the top five markets. This data is a subset of Knowland’s sales pipeline generation platform.
Chicago ranked as the top meetings and events market with spring’s return of industry and social events amid the growing theatre and entertainment, waterfront, blooms, and art events. The market averaged 162 attendees per meeting and 4,500 square feet of space used, and an average of 16 bookings per property for the month. According to STR, Chicago was a top market for group rooms sold in April.
- Year-over-year comparison: April 2023 event volume increased 73.2 percent over April 2022.
- Top five markets (by event volume)—Chicago was in the lead hosting national associations, followed by education and healthcare. The following four markets—Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Dallas; and Phoenix—rounded out the top five. Additional insight into the top drivers for these markets include:
- Chicago: national association, healthcare, education, manufacturing, pharmaceutical/biotechnology
- Los Angeles: education, national association, technology, training/education, charity/non-profit/social services
- Washington, D.C.: travel, national association, charity/non-profit/social services, education, training/education
- Dallas: healthcare, national association, education, technology, social–sports
- Phoenix: national association, healthcare, wedding, education/banding, education
- Top five markets (by percentage growth)—The top five markets by year-over-year growth in meetings and events are Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Oahu Island, Hawaii; Jacksonville, Florida; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
