Recent figures from venuedirectory.com have confirmed the return of confidence in the sector, but according to the company, indicate that resource challenges are still a concern.
The venue booking platform shared its 2022 financial figures, which demonstrates that the company will achieve more than £320m of confirmed business in 2022. According to venuedirectory.com, this is a large increase from pre-pandemic levels.
The total level of business confirmed for the global venues on the database in 2019 was £282m – a figure that was surpassed on 7 November.
According to venuedirectory.com, the business events sector has seen overseas business more than double in recent years: 10% in 2019 escalating to 21% this year.
However, despite this global bounce back, resource pressures continue; the company has additionally reported that venue response times have dropped. In 2019, 76% of RFPs were answered within two hours compared to 58% in 2022.
Michael Begley (pictured left), managing director of venuedirectory.com, explained: “While we can take heart from the buoyant picture of confirmed business in 2022, this needs to be balanced out against the wider challenges experienced by our clients such as staffing.
“The business events sector will need to plan carefully for next year to take into account the continued cost of living crisis and interest rate hikes. The levels of confirmed business we’ve seen so far this year show that as a sector we can bounce back, although the significant headwinds we have in 2023 mean we have to work even harder to secure business.”
