New Research Clarifies Opportunities, Misconceptions Alongst Residents

By Geoff Donaghy

A recent research project carried out by AIPC has clearly put into focus a number of the key questions around how local residents regard meetings and conventions delegates relative to leisure tourists at a time when many cities are grappling with the impacts of growing numbers of visitors. At the same time， it has created a template for action by identifying misconceptions along with areas of opportunity for centre communications.

The work was initially carried out in Barcelona， Amsterdam and Berlin， with Sydney Australia later added to incorporate a sample from a control destination where tourism impacts were not identified as a local issue. In fact， results across all destinations were remarkably similar and both benefits and concerns largely consistent. Emerging as the key findings were the following；

Visitor impacts were not a particularly big issue amongst the broad cross-section of residents – suggesting that these concerns were in fact limited to a vocal minority and based on individual issues rather than a broad consensus.

However， the benefits associated with meetings and convention delegates were distinctly different， with leisure visitors associated almost entirely with spending-based benefits while those participating in meetings and events being seen to contribute to knowledge， business development， professional practices and other areas of broader community benefit. At the same time， convention / exhibition delegates were significantly less likely to be associated with negative behaviours such as crowding and congestion， theft and vandalism， the environmental burden and disorderly behaviour.

Finally， respondents were twice as likely to believe that new investment to attract more visitors to their destination should be directed toward the meetings and conventions area rather than leisure tourism. But at the same time， there were some major misconceptions that blunted the generally beneficial message these kinds of results suggest.

The first was that while respondents felt that centers and the events they host created those broader output benefits， very few were clear as to what exactly these were. It is clear that there’s a lot of work to be done in delivering information about such events in order to underline just what it is that they leave behind in our communities.

The second is even more important： with regard to the economic benefits associated with visitor spending， residents of all the surveyed communities had it completely backwards， believing that leisure visitors had higher levels of spending that delegates when in fact most studies have shown that per diem spending by delegates in most parts of the world where this has been looked at is at least 2-300% higher than for other types of visitors. This is a huge lost opportunity in the battle for community attention， and one that could be easily addressed by making sure economic impact information is credible and up to date and then using it more effectively in centre communications.

While the results are important to centres， they in fact apply to everyone in the Meetings Industry because they go to the heart of industry image in a time when everyone is competing for attention and resources. In a way， they create the basis for a better communications initiative – and a clear picture of what those communications should be saying.

Author’s profile： In addition to his role as AIPC President， Geoff Donaghy is CEO at ICC Sydney （the International Convention Centre Sydney） and Director of Convention Centres AEG Ogden. Geoff Donaghy also represents AIPC on peak global body， the Joint Meetings Industry Council （JMIC）.