Together with research partner Oxford Economics, three industry organizations — Society for Incentive Travel Excellence, Incentive Research Foundation, and Financial and Insurance Conference Professionals — released the second annual Incentive Travel Industry Index this month.

Last year, Cori Dossett, president of Conferences Designed based in Dallas, spent two weeks in New Zealand. It was meant to be a holiday, but despite being 7,500 miles from home, it didn’t feel like one. 

“I literally worked half the vacation — some days I did not leave my hotel room,” recalls Dossett. “It was unfortunate and sad in so many ways.”

If you were flying home from Las Vegas last week, there’s a good chance you were seated next to a fellow IMEX attendee. This year’s IMEX America, held at Sands Expo and Convention Center from Sept. 10-12, drew an estimated 14,000 attendees and generated an economic impact of more than $20 million, according to show officials.

As Hurricane Dorian moved over the cold waters of the Labrador Sea and became an extra-tropical storm on Sunday, many communities along the Atlantic are facing the devastation left in its wake.

By far the greatest destruction was in the northern Bahamas, where Dorian planted itself for 48 hours as a monster Category 5 hurricane, obliterating everything in its path and leaving an estimated 70,000 people homeless, according to news reports. So far, the death toll has risen to 45 and is expected to climb as thousands remain missing.

New York, San Francisco and Chicago top the list of the best North American cities for events in 2020, according to a new ranking released by CWT M&E, the global meetings and events division of CWT.

The list was created based on CWT’s volume of business and booking trends, including a combination of requested cities, awarded RFPs and business value.

IACC and the Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management have released a combined research project, “Trends in the Meeting Venue Industry,” which provides insights and predictions on the U.S. conference venues market from a venue perspective.

The report is available in two versions, one that focuses on residential conference venues (venues that offer guest rooms as well as meeting facilities) and the other on non-residential.

As Hurricane Dorian ambles its way toward the Southeastern United States, it’s wreaking more havoc on conferences and conventions. Show organizers are taking precautions to protect the safety of those traveling to events — as well as the teams helping to execute them locally — by canceling or postponing those scheduled this week.

Hurricane Dorian whipped through Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands yesterday, bringing heavy rains and high winds. As a Category 1 storm, it spared much of the main island of Puerto Rico from extensive damage, though islands off the eastern coast were hit harder.

Dorian will continue on its path heading toward the coast of Florida over the weekend through Tuesday. Forecasters are predicting it may grow into a Category 4 hurricane as it moves through warm waters.

Center for Exhibition Industry Research has released two new reports focused on the trade show industry’s latest best practices.

When it comes to meetings and conventions hotel bookings, rates are rising: The average daily rate (ADR) for groups is up 1.9 percent compared to 2018. But the higher rates aren’t slowing group bookings down. Those numbers are also trending upwards, with a 0.3 percent increase in committed room nights compared to July 2018.

The transient segment ADR is also up, though only slightly at 0.2 percent; transient business ADR was down 2 percent.