SMERF and Wedding Events take front stage over the holidays
The number of U.S. meetings and events decreased 25.3% compared to the prior week. The change is typical for holiday meeting trends. The industry make up of events changed dramatically as corporate segment fell in favor of surges in SMERF (27%) and Weddings (16.5%).
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The average number of attendees for the week was 71 (compared to 77 last week), while the average square footage used was 1,512 (compared to 1,781) per event and square feet used per person was 21.
While the corporate market segment was down to 37.0% (vs 64.7% last week) of overall meetings business for the week. The top five segments for the week were: Education, Religious, Travel, Social – Sports, and Sports Entertainment.
The top market movers and shakers were: Atlanta, Des Moines, Austin, Fort Myers, and Jacksonville.
| Market | Average Group Size | Average Sq Ft Used |
| Atlanta, GA | 93 | 1,917 |
| Des Moines, IA | 159 | 2,550 |
| Austin, TX | 97 | 1,275 |
| Ft. Myers, FL | 46 | 1,124 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 55 | 1,178 |
These numbers and markets change weekly based on market dynamics and social trends.
Knowland tracks the weekly event activity across 128 U.S. markets with more globally and is expanding coverage regularly.
