Corporate meetings and events are entering a new phase as companies increase spending on face-to-face experiences while demanding stronger returns, tighter planning and more effective use of technology.
The return of in-person meetings is no longer simply a post-pandemic recovery story.
For many companies, face-to-face events have become a deliberate investment in relationships, company culture and business development. But as budgets rise, expectations are rising with them.
A survey of more than 500 meetings and events professionals across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific found that 92% of companies expected meetings and events budgets either to increase or remain flat in 2026.
More than a third – 35% – expected their budgets to increase by more than 10%.
Asia Pacific was particularly positive, with 67% of companies surveyed expecting meetings spending to increase during 2026.
The message for destinations, hotels and event suppliers is clear: there is demand for meetings.
But simply providing meeting space is no longer enough.
The return of the in-person event
The shift back towards physical events is being driven partly by the recognition that some business objectives are difficult to replicate online.
Companies continue to use meetings to strengthen relationships, bring teams together and create opportunities for informal interaction.
In Asia Pacific, more than half of the meetings professionals surveyed by Amex GBT Meetings & Events expected more than half of their meetings to be entirely in person during 2026.
Improving the attendee experience was identified as the leading priority in the region.
That is an important development for destinations competing for international meetings.
The event itself is becoming part of the product.
A conference venue may provide the practical infrastructure, but the destination increasingly needs to offer something beyond four walls: distinctive experiences, efficient transport, attractive accommodation and opportunities for participants to connect outside the formal programme.
Experience is becoming part of the ROI
The growing focus on attendee experience also reflects a broader change in how companies assess meetings.
An event has to justify the time and money invested in bringing people together.
That does not necessarily mean measuring everything in immediate sales. The value may come through stronger client relationships, employee engagement, knowledge sharing or new business opportunities.
But corporate buyers increasingly want to understand those outcomes.
This is particularly important at a time when business travel remains expensive.
GBTA forecasts that global business travel prices will remain elevated through the end of 2026, with airfares, hotels, ground transportation and meetings and events costs all facing continued pressure.
Although price growth is expected to moderate in 2027, the organisation does not expect costs to return to 2025 levels.
Higher costs make every meeting decision more visible.
For planners, that means destinations and suppliers need to demonstrate not only what an event costs, but what participants and organisations gain from attending.
AI enters the meeting room
Technology is becoming another major part of this transformation.
Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly into meetings management, with new platforms using AI to automate tasks that have traditionally required significant amounts of planner time.
Business Travel News reports that emerging AI-native meetings platforms are increasingly being used for tasks including venue sourcing, proposal management, contract processes and spend analysis.
The technology is also beginning to affect the attendee experience.
AI can help personalise communications, answer questions about travel arrangements and identify relevant connections between participants.
That does not necessarily mean replacing the human element of an event.
Quite the opposite.
The direction of travel appears to be towards using technology to remove administrative work so that planners can concentrate more heavily on the elements that require human judgement: relationships, creativity, programme design and the overall experience.
Shorter planning cycles, greater complexity
The meetings market is also becoming more demanding operationally.
The FCM Meetings & Events research found that planning cycles are becoming tighter, while cross-border meetings face additional complexity around visas, documentation and entry requirements.
That is particularly relevant to international events in Asia, where participants may arrive from multiple countries with different entry rules.
For destinations and convention bureaux, this creates an opportunity to become more than a marketing organisation.
Providing clear information about accessibility, transport, entry requirements and local logistics can become part of the sales proposition.
The same applies to hotels and venues.
Corporate planners increasingly need partners who can anticipate potential problems rather than simply respond to them after they occur.
Asia Pacific has an opportunity to raise the bar
The combination of rising meetings budgets and strong demand for in-person experiences creates an attractive environment for destinations across Asia Pacific.
But competition will not be based solely on convention centre capacity.
The successful meetings destinations of the coming years are likely to be those that can combine infrastructure with experience, technology with human service, and attractive venues with efficient logistics.
Singapore, for example, is already positioning business travel as an important contributor to the wider economy, while the region as a whole continues to attract a growing share of global corporate travel activity.
For meeting planners, meanwhile, the challenge is increasingly about doing more with every event.
The strongest programmes will not necessarily be the biggest ones. They will be the ones where the destination, venue, technology and experience work together to give participants a clear reason to be there in person.
The business events industry has therefore moved beyond the question of whether face-to-face meetings are coming back.
The more important question now is what companies expect those meetings to achieve – and whether destinations can deliver an experience valuable enough to justify bringing people together.
