Each Wednesday, Destinations International organizes an industry update webinar to share the latest impacts that COVID-19 has on destination organizations and the broader travel sector. On April 8, we explored the impact of the pandemic on convention sales and services. We were joined by the following three experts who shared their research and experience:

• David Blansfield, Executive Vice President & Publisher, Northstar Meetings Group
• Ryan George, CEO, Simpleview
• Melissa Riley, VP Convention Sales and Services, Destination DC

David Blansfield: Sales Teams Skew Pessimistic

Northstar Meetings Groups is conducting a weekly survey of meeting planners to understand how they are reacting to the crisis. Last week, Northstar partnered with Destinations International to survey destination organizations. We received 298 responses, representing an even split of large and small organizations. Over 80% of respondents were from organizations within the US, and these represented a fairly even geographic spread across the country. About 20% of respondents were from destination organizations in Canada, Latin America, and Europe.  The survey reveals a good deal of uncertainty at the destination level, with many respondents taking decisive action to cut costs and adjust sales goals, while others are maintaining a “wait-and-see” strategy.

About 45% of destinations have already reduced their sales goals for the year, while another 45% have not yet decided whether to adjust their goals. Of those who have reduced their goals, more than half corrected their projections downward by more than 30%.  

Asked how they’ve adjusted their sales strategy in light of the pandemic, more than half of respondents reported that they’ve adjusted their sales strategy to the current circumstances and continue to extend their focus beyond the near-term.

Asked to forecast the outlook for future meetings and events over the next 12 months, sales teams were pessimistic. About half predicted either a drop in demand for events or for those events that do move forward, to have fewer attendees than originally predicted. Only about 20% predicted demand for events and event attendance over the next 12 months would be at or exceed levels prior to the crisis. Nevertheless, more than 75% of respondents reported that they are staying in touch with key clients to keep their destination top-of-mind, although they are avoiding coming off as too “salesy”.

Forecasting the return of the meeting and events industry is especially difficult for respondents given the number of uncertainties to consider, chief among them when it will be safe to begin traveling again. One respondent put it: “Our biggest challenge is determining when we are comfortable hosting events in the future.".

Ryan George and Bill Simpson: Looking for Signs of Hope and Opportunity

Simpleview’s Aggregate Industry Data report includes the aggregated data from 250 US destination organizations using the Simpleview CRM to track meetings and events. This includes 34 of the 50 top meeting destinations in the US.

This data shows that before the pandemic struck the U.S., 2020 was on track to be a blockbuster year. As of February 1^st, these destinations had 500,000 more room-nights booked for a year than at the same time the year previous. However, by April 5, those same destinations reported 5.7 million fewer room-nights than the same time last year. Most of this business is canceled, not postponed.

Website traffic for destination organizations can also be used as a barometer for the strength of the leisure market. Across Simpleview websites, daily traffic is down about 70%, from a million daily views to 300,000. Simpleview is still waiting for the bottom of that drop.

Simpleview is looking for good news in the data. While cancellations and postponements are continuing into June and July, August seems to be mostly unaffected and—as of today—has a handful more bookings than August 2019.

Melissa Riley, #DCtogether

Washington DC is feeling the pinch. More than 60 hotels in the region have closed entirely, and the city has lost 11 large scale opportunities, resulting in $87 million in lost economic impact. Destination DC has been forced to furlough staff and expects more furloughs down the line.

In the short term, Destination DC is focused on tracking and measuring the impact of the crisis and keeping communication open with the hotel industry, convention center, and other stakeholders. Looking forward, they see demand for hotel leads returning in late summer and continuing into winter, with a peak around the Presidential Inauguration in January.

They are keeping staff engaged and motivated with daily team huddles on Zoom and “Wisdom Wednesday” meetings to focus on professional development. They have prioritized building out client touchpoints to keep DC top of mind without being pushy or "salesy" but have converted most marketing and communications channels into COVID-19 updates and resources for the local industry.

In partnership with other industry stakeholders, they have kicked off a campaign called #DCtogether with a unified message from the hospitality sector. The campaign includes video and other to showcase the region and local partners.

Destinations International’s COVID-19 Webinar Series Continues

This webinar is recorded and available online here.

Destinations International is committed to keeping you up to date as COVID-19 continues to disrupt our industry. Join us for our weekly COVID-19 update webinar series, led by industry experts from around the world.  Register here.