The travel industry relies heavily on trade shows and conferences for suppliers and travel professionals to educate themselves on products and sales trends. These events attract huge audiences and are very profitable.
With the pandemic, business and leisure travel companies have reduced advertising and marketing budgets and, for the most part, conferences of the type seen before have been canceled. One well-established travel association that produced global conferences and seminars declared bankruptcy recently, disappearing completely.
I’ve attended dozens of global industry events and, along with many of my travel industry colleagues, have found them helpful and productive. Will the conferences and such remain relevant; will it be necessary for a hotel operator in Phoenix to travel to Berlin to display their sales material and make new contacts? Who knows?
Will airlines continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on participation and sponsor fees at significant conferences? Right now, many airlines are flying with reduced schedules and fewer passengers. It’s unlikely they’ll return to the way they promoted their services prior to the pandemic; they’ll find more cost-effective programs to generate new revenue and top-of-mind awareness.
It’s pretty easy for a company’s marketing team to realize that their advertising, promotional, and sales activities may accomplish similar results, with far less money spent. True, face-to-face contacts are always best, but with companies shifting to online webinars and events, in-person connections will be reduced. This pandemic has created changes in our industry no one could possibly have imagined; it’s both exciting and sad to ponder what may result from all of this change and turmoil.
For the moment, I just hope my friends and colleagues stay safe, healthy, and happy wherever they may be.
Are we there yet? 