ICCA Annual

Statistics Study 2020

Analyzing an exceptional and transformational year
Sponsored by
ICCA Statistics Study 2020

2
 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Total number of events by status and month (2020) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Affected % meetings by month (2020) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Affected number meetings by month (2020). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Total number of attendees by status and month. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Affected % of meetings by size (2020). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Affected number of meetings by size (2020). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Affected % of attendees by size (2020). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Affected number of attendees by size (2020) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Total number of events by region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Total number of attendees by region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Total number of events by subject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Hybrid & Virtual meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Economic impact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3
 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

ICCA Statistics ‘Reinvented’.

This 2020 Report is not a Ranking.
The past year has transformed the way the international association
meetings industry does business. As a result, ICCA has also reinvented
the 2020 ICCA Statistics Report on the association meetings market.
We are excited to bring you this latest iteration of the report with a
more holistic and accurate representation of the COVID-19 pandemic’s
impact on association meetings globally.

In the 2020 report, you’ll find details on international meetings that

were supposed to take place with insights into what became of
COVID-19 affected meetings. We’ve added new categories to represent
the full spectrum of solutions that event planners implemented in 2020;
including virtual and hybrid meetings, postponement, cancellation,
and relocation.

The report delivers analysis on economic impact, revenue loss and

other key parameters. An examination of the total expenditure in
2019 vs 2020 reveals the industry’s strong desire to return to face-to-
face meetings. However, in the future, meetings are likely to include
elements and best practices from virtual and hybrid events.

You can further see that postponed meetings remain overall loyal
to their original destination. In short, they’ll be back. And when they
return, they are likely to entice larger audiences of delegates eager to
meet face-to-face within the necessary safety protocols. Meanwhile,
virtual and hybrid events have helped associations expand their
audience and keep members engaged with their activities. These are
all positive developments that can guide top-level decision makers
within associations, sectors, and local governments.

The 2020 ICCA Statistics Report not only provides a closer look at
what was, it gives a clearer view of what is ahead. We at ICCA World
steadfastly believe that the global association meetings industry is
entering a brighter, stronger future.

Warm regards,

Senthil Gopinath

ICCA CEO

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Introduction As ICCA’s annual data gathering and statistical cycle has come to an
end, it is time to reflect on the exceptional and perhaps transformational
year that was 2020. For this year, it was decided to add an additional
analytical layer to the statistical data in the Destination Comparison
Tool (DCT), in the form of this report.

The content of this report complements this year’s DCT and will dive
deeper into the data in order to provide you with further insights in
what the year 2020 has brought the associations meetings industry.

This year’s DCT will be slightly different compared to previous years,

as it will only consist of meetings that were either held or planned in
2020. The previous DCT, containing data on the years 1963-2019 will still
be accessible in the new DCT for your convenience and reference.

The DCT remains a dynamic tool which allows you to make your own
selections (filter on: pax, subject and the possibility to compare 5
destinations, etc.)

As an addition, the Association Database in the majority of cases,

displays the motivation of the organizers of planned 2020 meetings
with regards to their affected status.

To view the database and the DCT, we invite you to log-in to the MyICCA
section of the website to access these valuable tools.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every association

meeting from its onset early last year, it was decided to exclude
the previous years for comparison as this would lead to skewed
comparisons.

By leaving out the previous years there was room to add information
with regards to how meetings were impacted by the pandemic.
Meetings have been affected in multiple ways and ICCA has applied
the following classification for all meetings:

Classification Postponed Hybrid Cancelled

for all meetings: Relocated Virtual Unaffected

In total, 8.409 unique meetings were identified which were either held or planned in 2020. In last year’s
report the number of unique events was 13.252. This significant drop-off can partially be explained by the
fact that numerous event websites were taken offline prematurely or were never established in the first
place as a consequence of the pandemic, making it difficult to identify these meetings for 2020.

Most conference organisers have updated the webpage for the postponed or cancelled 2020 conference
with new dates or location for future years which made researching conferences and even finding the
original dates for the 2020 event, more difficult.

Collecting the data has been particularly challenging for our members in 2020 as, due to the lockdowns,
the vast majority of venues and hotels were closed and most of the staff on furlough, working at very
reduced hours, or sadly been made redundant. This unfortunately meant that the response rate from the
venues overall was extremely low compared to previous years.

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of events by

status and month (2020)

As can be seen in fig.1, by far, the majority of meetings in 2020 were Postponed (44%), a trend which
increased throughout the middle of the year and gradually decreased in the second half of 2020 (see
fig.2)

The second largest segment was Virtual meetings (30%), which started off as the smallest segment and
grew to become the largest segment, overtaking the Postponed meetings in the last two months of
2020, signaling a growing adaptation of the association meetings industry to the ongoing pandemic.

The 3rd largest segment was Cancelled meetings (14%), which was the largest segment at the beginning
of the year and became the second smallest segment at year’s end, a further sign of adaptation.

Relocated and Hybrid meetings make up the smallest segments, with relocation being the least favored
option for meeting continuation (1%), as one would expect due to additional logistics and costs, and
Hybrid meetings (2%) gaining a bit more traction from August onwards.

Total number of
events by status

Postponed 3 .714 (44%)

Hybrid 143 (2%)

8.409
Cancelled 1.211 (14%)

Relocated 73 (1%)
Total Number
of Events
Virtual 2.505 (30%)

Unaffected 763 (9%)

Fig. 1: Total number of

events by status

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

Affected % of meetings
6%by month (2020) 7% 6% 4%
10% 11%
AFFECTED # MEETINGS BY MONTH (2020) 16%

Jan 97% 25%

23% 28%
Feb 4% 92%
44% 43% 34%
Mar 25% 29% 16% 6% 29% 30%
5%
Apr 38% 27% 24% 9%
15% 17%
May 15% 44% 22% 24% 8% 2%
10%
Jun
4% 49% 19% 26% 6% 10%
11%
Jul 49% 13% 33% 3%
27%
Aug 57% 12% 27% 3%

Sep 52% 50% 10% 47% 33% 2%

43% 45% 42%
38%
Oct 43% 10% 42% 1%
23%
Nov 37% 4% 10% 46% 2%

Dec 30% 8% 8% 52% 2%

Europe 0% 10%Asia 20% North
30% America
40% Latin
50%America
60% Oceania80%
70% Africa 100%
90% Middle E

PostponedPostponed
HybridHybrid Cancelled
Cancelled Relocated
RelocatedVirtual Virtual
Unaffected
Unaffected

Fig. 2: Affected % of meetings by month (2020)

Only events with a known month were included (7.807 events)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

% OF AFFECTED
Affected ATTENDEES
number BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)
of meetings
% by month (2020)
6% 6% 4% 7%
10% AFFECTED # MEETINGS BY MONTH (2020) 11%
16%
%
Jan 143
25%
% 23% 28%
Feb 227
44% 43% 34%
% Mar 121 67 123 30%
6%
5%
Apr 121 109 41
%
15% 17%
May 15% 168 11 184 63
2%
% 10%
Jun 224 13 302 66 10%
11% 4%
% Jul 95 8 237 21
27%
Aug 12 69 162 15
%
Sep 50%
34 115 47% 396 20
43% 45% 42%
% 38%
Oct 29 101 10 431 11

% 23%
Nov 34 75 358 14

% Dec 22 151 5
Europe 0 Asia200 North 400
America Latin
600America 800Oceania 1000 Africa 1200 Middle Ea

PostponedPostponed
HybridHybrid Cancelled
Cancelled Relocated
RelocatedVirtualVirtual
UnaffectedUnaffected

Fig. 3: Affected number of meetings by month (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of attendees

by status and month

As opposed to the number of meetings, as seen in Fig. 1, the number of attendees shows that Postponed
(38%) and Virtual (37%) meetings make up a similar sized segment of the total number of attendees,
signifying that, although the number of virtual meetings was lower than the number of postponed
meetings, the number of attendees in these meetings was higher, as was the average number of
attendees, see table for average nr. of attendees per status:

Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected

420 311 492 943 603 367

Total number of
attendees by status

Postponed 1.558.075 (38%)

Hybrid 44.452 (1%) 4 Million

Cancelled 596.079 (15%) 57 thousand
Relocated 68.867 (2%)
Total Number
Virtual 1.509.460 (37%)
of Attendees
Unaffected 280.275 (7%)

Fig. 4: Total number of

attendees by status (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Affected % of meetings
by size (2020)

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

As seen in Fig. 5 below, the majority of smaller meetings (From 50 to 149 attendees) were either Postponed
or Cancelled (56% combined) compared to 44% as seen in the largest meetings (From 3.000 and up). As a
100%consequence of this, the percentage of Virtual meetings is highest in the largest meetings (48%).
6% 7% 6% 4%
10%
The consequences of cancelling or postponing large meetings seems much higher compared to 11%
smaller
16%
90%meetings and perhaps more resources are available to these associations as they might have more
members and therefore larger budgets in order to convert face-2-face meetings into virtual meetings.
25%
80% 23% 28%
AFFECTED % OF MEETINGS BY SIZE (2020)
44% 43% 34%
70% 30%
6%
From 50 to 149 5% 42% 14% 30% 12%
60%
15% 17%
From 150 to 249 15% 46% 14% 28% 8% 2%
50% 10%
4% 10%
From 25011%
to 499 47% 15% 27% 8%
40%
27%
From 500 to 999 47% 14% 27% 9%
30%
50% 47%
20%
From 1000 to 1999
43% 40% 14% 3% 37% 45%6% 42%
38%
From 2000 to 2999 34% 23% 18% 42% 7%
10%

0%
From 3000 and up 31% 13% 2% 48% 6%
Europe Asia North America Latin America Oceania Africa Middle Ea
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Postponed
Postponed Hybrid
Hybrid Cancelled
Cancelled RelocatedRelocated
Virtual Virtual
Unaffected Unaffected

Fig. 5: Affected % of meetings by size (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

100%
6% 7% 6% 4%
10% 11%
90% Affected number of
16%

meetings by size (2020) 25%

80% 23% 28%
AFFECTED # OF MEETINGS BY SIZE (2020)
44% 43% 34%
70% 30%
6%
5% 1 128 383 823 313
From 50 to 149

60%
From 150 to 249 796 243 488
15% 138 17%
15%
2%
50% 10%
From 250 to 499 4%957 308 555 161 10%
11%
40%
From 500 to 999 528 156 27% 103
310
30%
From 1000 to 1999 206 75 191 50% 47%
43% 45% 42%
20% 38%
From 2000 to 2999 57
10% 23%
From 3000 and up 81
0%
Europe
-300 200 Asia North
700 America Latin America
1 200 1 700 Oceania2 200 Africa2 700 Middle E
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected

Fig. 6: Affected number of meetings by size (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

100%
6% 7% 6% 4%
10% 11%
90%
Affected % of attendees 16%
by size (2020)
25%
80% 23% 28%
AFFECTED % OF ATTEN DEES BY SIZE (2020)
44% 43% 34%
70% 30%
From 50 to 149 42% 2% 14% 6%
31% 11%
5%
60%
From 150 to 249 47% 2% 15%
14% 17%28% 8%
15%
2%
50% 10%
From 250 to 499 47% 1% 15% 1% 27% 8% 10%
11% 4%
40%
From 500 to 999 47% 27% 2% 14% 1% 28% 9%

30%
From 1000 to 1999 39% 14% 3% 37% 5%
50% 47%
43% 45% 42%
20% 38%
From 2000 to 2999 32% 18% 43% 6%

10% 23%
From 3000 and up 24% 14% 3% 53% 4%

0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Europe Asia
Postponed Hybrid
NorthCancelled
America Relocated
Latin America
Virtual
Oceania
Unaffected
Africa Middle Ea

Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected

Fig. 7: Affected % of attendees by size (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

100%Affected
number of
6% 7% 6% 4%
10%
attendees by size (2020) 11%
16
90%

25%
80% 23% 28%
AFFECTED # OF ATTEN DEES BY SIZE (2020)
44% 43% 34%
70% 30
From 50 to 149 109K 37K 80K 30K 6%
5%
60%
From 150 to 249 152K 15%46K 92K 26K 15% 17%
2%
50% 10%
From 250 to 499 329K
4% 107K 191K 55K 10
11%
40%
From 500 to 999 353K 27% 105K 209K 68K
30%
From 1000 to 1999 262K 97K 22K 251K50% 36K 47%
43% 45% 42
20% 38%
From 2000 to 2999 102K 56K 137K 20K
10% 23%

From 3000 and up 251K 148K 29K 549K 45K

0%
Europe 0K Asia 200K North America
400K Latin America
600K Oceania
800K Africa
1 000K Middle
Postponed
Postponed Hybrid
Hybrid Cancelled Relocated
Cancelled Virtual
Relocated Unaffected
Virtual Unaffected

Fig. 8: Affected number of attendees by size (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of
events by region

When looking at the unaffected and affected meetings per region we can observe that the Middle East

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

had the lowest percentage of meetings Postponed and Cancelled (49% combined), which means that
51% of all meetings in 2020 took place, either Unaffected (19%), Virtual (29%), Relocated (2%) or Hybrid (1%);
followed closely by North America with a combined continuation-rate of 50% and the highest percentage
00% of Virtual meetings (39%).
6% 7% 6% 4%
10% 11%
16%
90%
% of Total number of events by
region and status (2020) 25%
80% 28%
23% N UMBER OF EVEN TS BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)
% OF TOTAL
100%
44% 7% 43% 34%
70% 12% 9% 11% 10% 11% 30%
90% 6% 19%
5%
60% 80%
30% 15% 27% 17% 26%
15% 25% 27%
70% 39% 2%
50% 10%
29%
4% 2% 2% 10%
11%
60%
13%
40% 13% 13% 17%
50% 27% 20% 2% 2%
5% 11%
30% 40% 18% 2%
50% 47%
30% 43% 45% 42%
20% 38%
47% 50%
42% 44%
20% 40% 38%
10% 23%
32%
10%

0% 0%
Europe Europe Asia Asia North America
North Latin
America Latin AmericaOceaniaOceaniaAfrica
America AfricaEast
Middle Middle East
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected

Fig. 9: Total number of events by region (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of
attendees by region

In total 51% of attendees attended unaffected, relocated, hybrid or virtual European meetings, the highest
percentage of regions. Europe also has the highest percentage of attendees (44%) attending meetings
originally planned in Europe, followed by North America with 43%.

Asia is clearly the front-runner with regards to Hybrid meetings with 80 meetings, representing 4% of the
total number of events. This might be related to the effect approach from various Asian countries at the
onset of the pandemic.

% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)

Middle East showed the highest percentage of unaffected meetings (16%) followed by Africa (11%).
Perhaps this is linked to the fact that the Middle East and (North) Africa managed to effectively limit the
00% initial spread of the coronavirus.
6% 7% 6% 4%
10% 11%
16%
90% % of Affected attendees by
region and status (2020) 25%
80% 28%
% OF23%
AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)
44%
100%
43% 4% 34%
70% 6% 7% 6%
10% 6% 11% 30%
16%
90% 5%
60% 25%
80% 23% 28%15% 17%
15%
44% 43% 34% 2%
50% 70% 10%
30%
6%
4% 5% 10%
11%
60%
40% 15% 17%
15% 2%
50% 27% 10%
4% 10%
30% 11%
40%
27% 50% 47% 45%
20% 30% 43% 42%
38%
50% 47%
20% 43% 45% 42%
38% 23%
10%
10% 23%

0% 0%
Europe Europe Asia Asia North
NorthAmerica Latin
America Latin America
America Oceania Oceania
Africa Africa
Middle East Middle East
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected
Postponed Hybrid Cancelled Relocated Virtual Unaffected

Fig. 10: Total number of events by region (2020)

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of events by

region and size (2020)
As seen in the table below, 50% of all planned meetings in the Middle East had attendance of 500 and
higher. This is by far higher than all the other regions which are in the range between 19% and 32%. In
three of the four highest categories the Middle East has the highest percentage of all regions. This might
correlate with the hypothesis that larger meetings tend to continue in a virtual format more often than
smaller meetings.

Size category Europe Asia North Latin Oceania Africa Middle Total
America America East

From 50 to 149 1,736 (37%) 397 (26%) 284 (29%) 171 (28%) 63 (24%) 43 (17%) 19 (20%) 2,713 (32%)

From 150 to 249 991 (21%) 311 (21%) 176 (18%) 124 (20%) 46 (18%) 55 (22%) 10 (10%) 1,713 (20%)

From 250 to 499 1,101 (23%) 362 (24%) 238 (24%) 159 (26%) 67 (26%) 84 (34%) 19 (20%) 2,030 (24%)

From 500 to 999 502 (11%) 258 (17%) 157 (16%) 101 (16%) 45 (17%) 38 (15%) 27 (28%) 1,128 (13%)

From 1000 to 217 (5%) 122 (8%) 78 (8%) 47 (8%) 23 (9%) 21 (9%) 12 (12%) 520 (6%)
1999

From 2000 to 62 (1%) 22 (1%) 27 (3%) 7 (1%) 12 (5%) 3 (1%) 3 (3%) 136 (2%)
2999

From 3000 and 97 (2%) 29 (2%) 20 (2%) 12 (2%) 3 (1%) 2 (1%) 7 (7%) 170 (2%)
up

Total 4,706 1,501 980 621 259 246 97 8,410

(100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)

Fig. 11: Total number of events by region and size (2020).

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Total number of events by subject

% OF
Of allAFFECTED ATTENDEES
meetings planned for BY REGION
2020, meetings with Technology AN
subject matter hadDtheSTATUS (2020)
highest percentage
% OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES BY REGION AN D STATUS (2020)
of Virtual (48%) and Hybrid (3%) meetings. It might be plausible to assume that associations organizing
technological meetings already had more infrastructure and/or know-how to host virtual/hybrid
6% % meetings
OF AFFECTED ATTENDEES
compared to other BYof6%
associations. As a result
7% REGION AN 4%DofSTATUS
this high percentage virtual/hybrid (2020)
meetings,
10%
these technological
6% relocated (1%) and hybrid (3%) events
7% 6%of 61%. 4%
associations had the highest continuation-rate, with unaffected (9%), 11%
virtual (48%),
10% adding up to a total 11% 16
6% 7% 6% 4% 16%
10%
Behind the technological 11%subject
associations, associations which organize meetings with Education
25%
matter had the second highest percentage of virtual meetings with 32%. Like the Technological sector, 16%
28% 25%to the pandemic.
the educational sector might already be accustomed to virtual meetings prior
23% 28%
On the other23% 25% matter had the highest
hand, associations organizing meetings with Science subject
44% cancellation/postponement-rate,
23% 43% 28%
with respectively 11% and 55%, totalling up to 66%. 34%
44% 43% 34% 30
6% 30%
44% 5% TOTAL
43% N UMBER OF MEETINGS BY SUBJECT 6% 34%
100% 5% 6% 30%
10% 5% 9% 8% 8%
15% 9% 9% 9%
15% 15% 17%
90%
15% 17%
15% 17% 2%
15% 10% 2%
80% 24% 25% 10% 2% 10
26% 32% 28% 10%28%
11% 4%
4% 10%
11%
70%
4% 10%
11% 48%
60% 27%
11%
27%
Unaffected

14% 27% 16% Virtual

15% 18%
50% 19% Relocated

50%
50% 47%
Cancelled
40%
43% 50% 47% 45%
45% Hybrid
43% 9% 47% 42
38%
38%
38%
43%
3%
45% 42%42%
Postponed
30%
55%
20%
47% 23%
23%
23%
45% 48%
44%
39%
30%
10%

Europe0%
Europe Asia
AsiaTechnologyNorth
Asia
Europe Medical Sciences North America
America
Science
Latin
America Latin America
America
America
Education
Oceania
Oceania
IndustryOceania
Social Sciences
Africa
Africa
Africa
Others
Middle
Middle
Middle East

Postponed
Postponed
Postponed Hybrid
Hybrid
Hybrid Cancelled
Cancelled
Cancelled Relocated
Relocated
Relocated Virtual Unaffected
Virtual
Virtual Unaffected
Unaffected

Fig. 12: Total number of events by subject (2020)

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Hybrid & Virtual meetings

The year 2020 can be seen as the catalyst for the inevitable emergence of Hybrid and Virtual meetings,
as a significant amount of associations made virtue out of necessity by converting 2.648 (32%) regular
meetings into 143 hybrid (2%) and 2.505 virtual (30%) meetings. This had a significant impact on the
economic output of these meetings as hybrid and virtual meetings have a limited impact on the
destination itself with regards to travel cost, accomodation, food/drink and other local expenditures.
Virtualization of meetings also has an impact on the number of attendees and the registration fees, as
can be clearly illustrated in the following graphs.

1600
Average attendance
1400
increase: regular vs.
1200
virtual meeting
1000

800

600

400

200

0
Average pax original Average pax virtual
meetingsm meetings

600
Average registration
fee (USD) decrease: 500

regular vs. virtual 400

meeting 300
525
200

100 211

0
Average fee Average fee
original meetings virtual meetings

Fig. 13 Average attendance and registration fee:

original vs. virtual meetings

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Economic impact

The year 2019 resulted in 13.252 unique association meetings representing a total estimated expenditure
of $10.817M. It will come as no surprise that the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the economic output
for the year 2020, with 8.409 meetings planned of which 3.484 actually took place: unaffected (763),
virtual (2.505), relocated (73) and hybrid (143). In the following calculation we will hypothesize how the
decrease in the total estimated expenditure can be explained.

2019 Estimated Total expenditure Based on 13.252 meetings $10.817M

Loss due to volume effect 2020 had 4.843 meetings less compared to 2019. This represents a - $3.953M
loss of $3.953M

Loss due to cancelled meetings Of the 8.409 planned meetings in 2020, 1.211 were cancelled. This - $0.988M
represents a loss $0.988M

Loss due to postponed meetings Of the 8.409 planned meetings in 2020, 3.714 were postponed to 2021 - $3.032M
or beyond. This represents a loss of $3.032M

Virtual/Hybrid expenditure loss and Virtual & Hybrid meetings have a lower Economic impact compared - $1.179M
others to face-2-face meetings. In addition, fluctuation in average registra-
tion fee and average attendance between 2019 and 2020 are incorpo-
________ +
rated in this amount.

2020 Estimated Total Expenditure Number of unaffected/relocated meetings: 836 $1.665M

Average number of attendees for unaffected/relocated meetings: 418

Average registration fee for unaffected/relocated meetings: $571

Estimated total expenditure for unaffected/relocated meetings:

$907M

Total number of virtual & hybrid meetings is: 2.648

Average number of attendees for virtual/hybrid meetings is: 1.356

Average registration fee for virtual/hybrid meetings is: $211

Estimated total expenditure for virtual/hybrid meetings: $758M

Estimated total expenditure for unaffected/relocated/virtual/hybrid

meetings: $1.665M

*Note: The average total expenditure presented in this table is calculated based on the assumption that
22% of the total delegate expenditure is spent on the registration fee.

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 ICCA Statistics Study 2020

Economic Impact of COVID-19 on

Total Expenditure: 2019 vs. 2020

- 0.988 M

Fig. 14 Economic Impact of COVID-19 on Total Expenditure: 2019 vs. 2020

This graph displays a breakdown of the decrease in estimated total expenditure due to the pandemic. As
a reference point, we are using the estimated total expenditure for the year 2019.

The decrease can be broken down in four segments: Volume effect (less meetings planned for 2020 vs.
2019), decrease of expenditure due to cancelled meetings and postponed meetings and, finally, decrease
due to the fact that Virtual/Hybrid meetings result in less expenditure, such as travel/accommodation
costs.

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