It goes without saying that our sector has also been touched severely by the crisis. We see redundancies – sometimes even up to 50% of the staff! -, and we also see a definite tendency to stay in Belgium with the events. There is also an increased ‘sales’ activity where the owner or manager of the agency will increase his direct contact efforts where in the past these contacts were maybe left to an employee.
Multi-day events are mostly reduced to 1-day events as lodging has become a luxury costs.
The briefing today is clear: no ostentatious luxury, this means simpler venues, simpler food and simpler accessories. Where in the past a welcoming team of hostesses would welcome guests, today it will probably be the staff of the client who will handle the welcoming of guests. ‘Sober’ is definitely a word we hear a lot these days!
We are looking currently at reductions in budgets of about 30%, much more is not possible because then an event becomes a non-event.
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Even in a challenging economy there are strong opportunities for pro-active companies to build their reputations, establish credibility and lay a foundation that will put them ahead of their competition when market conditions improve.
We suggest to keep a positive focus, even if you are suffering, and to appear outwardly positive. Clients seek companies who are successful, confident and specific about the impact they can make for their client.
Don't believe everything you hear or read! The reality is that there are many companies and associations still needing to communicate via face-to-face contact.
Set long-term focus but short term goals. Instead of dwelling too much on getting the new business, put more emphasis on the process of adapting and working on the RFP's from your clients.
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Considering the compensation due to the tremendous cruise sales growth we’ve experienced the last couple of year within Belgium, we can state that the cruise operators within our market are not particularly affected by the crisis. Of course, should there have been no crisis, we might have had an even more important growth than the one we are experiencing now.
For the consumers, both individuals as well as incentive oriented, there are some great deals to be made. When you take into account that the US market is stagnating, consequently generating additional availability, we can safely state that cruise rates have never been as attractive as today. Rather than looking at the actual situation as being a threat, we should welcome the lower rates as being an opportunity to increase our volumes and to introduce cruising to a share of the market which might have been reluctant so far.
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The feedback from most of our members is that, other than the obvious difficulty in obtaining adequate sponsoring budgets for certain conventions, the crisis is really visible in the general behavior of our clients: clear and outspoken attempts to reduce budgets at whatever cost, on site staff numbers are reduced drastically , etc.. As you can imagine, in many cases this results in sacrificing quality and proves that quality comes at a price!
We have also realized that “crisis” is a term more and more used as an excuse. Certain attitudes that are most of the time a reflection of a lack of creativity, are used under the pretext of ‘the crisis’ and that is a pity. A time of crisis should first and foremost be an opportunity to rebound, to generate new ideas, new concepts, maybe break the mold of a certain routine. But a crisis period as we know it today should also bring, more than ever, our endeavor to always strive for quality to the forefront. Let’s face it, professionalism comes at a price!
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Dominique Schwarts
Hugo Slimbrouck
Peter Mathieu
Sam van de Kerckhof
Bruce MacMillan