San Diego Seizes Top Spot for Year-over-Year Growth in Group Business for December
Pharmaceutical and Charity/Non-Profit industries lead in four out of the five top markets
Knowland, the world’s leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality, released the top market performance numbers for December, citing San Diego as having the highest meeting volume improvement with 29.2 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth. Coming in a close second was San Francisco, where event volume increased 21.5 percent, a positive sign the industry is bouncing back in the cities by the bay. This data is sourced from Knowland’s sales intelligence platform and designed to help hoteliers protect and grow their revenue base.
San Diego’s HealthCare event business segment doubled, and its Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology events basically tripled from last year. Much of this meeting activity was held in the first half of the month.
The top market experienced an average number of attendees of 198, and the average meeting space used was 2,577 sq. feet.
- Year-over-year comparison – December 2023 event volume showed 6.7 percent growth over December 2022 for all U.S. markets.
- Top five markets (by YOY growth in event volume) – San Diego ranked highest in the top 25 U.S. markets, hosting pharmaceutical/biotechnology meetings, followed by consulting industry events. The following four markets: San Francisco, Seattle, Orlando, and Miami rounded out the top five YoY for growth volume. Below is additional insight into the top drivers for these markets.
- San Diego: Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology, Consulting, National Association, HealthCare, Charity/Non-Profit.
- San Francisco: Charity/Non-Profit, Education, Training/Education, Technology, and Arts/Performing Arts.
- Seattle: Charity/Non-Profit, Entertainment/Media, Healthcare, National Association, and Technology.
- Orlando: Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology, Healthcare, Technology, National Associations, Wedding, and Technology.
- Miami: Wedding, Travel, Education, Financial//Banking, and Consulting.
- Top markets outside the top 25 ( by YOY growth in event volume ) – Colorado Springs, CO, Lexington, KY, and Milwaukee, WI.
About the Data: This data is provided to help hoteliers still building momentum gain insight into the top locations selected by today’s meeting planners. This information about the leading industry drivers provides a clear picture of those groups that are returning to the meeting and event space. Insights presented are a result of the analysis of meetings and events data acquired through Knowland data collection and aggregation methods, including field reporting and automated methods of customer and non-customer data collection in primary, secondary, and tertiary markets, as well as its large historical database.
About Knowland
Knowland is the world's leading provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events for hospitality. With the industry's largest historical database of actualized events, thousands of customers trust Knowland to sell group smarter and maximize their revenue. Knowland operates globally and is headquartered just outside Washington, DC. To learn more about our solutions, visit www.knowland.com or follow us on X @knowlandgroup.
