ARLINGTON, Virginia—Knowland released its U.S. monthly meetings and events data for September 2022, reporting 135.4 percent growth over September 2021. Additionally, September 2022 grew by 23.7 percent over August 2022.
- Increase over 2019 in average attendees per event: The average number of attendees per event for September 2022 was 118 compared to 112 in September 2021 and 97 in September 2019.
- Average space used per person in line with prior years: The average space used in September 2022 was 3,101 square feet. Meetings in September 2021 averaged 2,791 square feet and 2,729 square feet in 2019. Proportionally from a per-person perspective, the 2022 meeting space used an average of 26 square feet per person as opposed to 25 square feet per person in 2021 and 28 square feet per person in 2019.
- Top five market growth compared to August 2022: The top five growth markets for September (in order) compared to August were Washington, D.C., Boston, San Diego, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
- Corporate meetings continue as the dominant segment: The corporate segment represents 53.1 percent of the meetings and events business, with healthcare, technology, and financial/banking taking the lead as the largest industry segments. From a recovery standpoint compared to September 2019 levels, online retail, sports entertainment, agriculture, arts/performing arts, and automotive were the segments at the highest level of recovery captured in September 2022.
Kristi White, chief product officer, Knowland, said, “Even with the holiday, September took a significant step forward reaching 89.5 percent recovered to 2019 levels. This is the highest level of recovery we have seen and each month we get closer to full recovery. As we step into the fourth quarter, meetings and events are poised to have a dramatic rebound that will bring the quarter close to full recovery.”
