As M&E travel evolves and grows, a dedicated meetings and events travel program provides exceptional value. 

Meetings and events (M&E) travel is travel specifically revolving around conferences, conventions, trade shows and more. It has always been a big part of business travel. That said, some companies may not always give it the attention it deserves. However, the importance of meetings and events attendance is growing on a regional, national and global scale. It’s more important than ever to have a meetings and events travel program in place.

Does your organization need a meetings and events travel program? Here’s how to decide and how to get started.

Key Takeaways

• A specified meetings and events travel program can help you manage growing event costs, as well as navigate meetings and events trends.
• Your meetings and events travel program should work in conjunction with your business travel program.
• Work with a Travel Management Company for support in building your meetings and events travel program.

Why You Need a Meetings and Events Travel Program

In-person events may have waned over the pandemic. Industry experts may have declared at the time that the future of work was all virtual meetings, across the board. However, that hasn’t quite proven to be the case.

As the Professional Convention Management Association noted in its 2025 trends report, demand for in-person events is “stronger than ever.” This is especially true when it comes to longer trips, for three to five-day affairs. That said, this is still not the meetings and events landscape that you may’ve been used to, pre-pandemic.

The organization noted that many planners are now considering alternative event destinations to make them more economically viable. Currently, the daily cost per attendee for meetings and events is about $169—a very slight increase over 2024. The Global Business Travel Association also reports that it expects this cost to rise even further in 2026, to $172, so long as there is not a global recession. If there is a global recession, the Association reports, we could see the prices drop for daily Traveler event attendance by as much as 2.5%.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, in 2024, group travel to conventions, trade shows and team events generated $126 billion.

Beyond increasing costs, the M&E industry is also changing in response to geopolitical concerns. There’s a slowdown in the United States in demand for international events hosting, according to Business Travel News. (While this isn’t good news, per se, the publication does point out that it comes with a potential opportunity for Travel Managers and event planners, in terms of vendor negotiations.) 

Having a meetings and events travel program can help you navigate both increased costs and changing M&E trends and expectations, like those above, in a few key ways.

For one, when you have a meetings and events travel program in place, you can consolidate your travel spend. This leads to greater negotiating power with vendors. That ultimately leads to cost savings.

Additionally, having a meetings and events travel program allows you to better control the business travel experience. When you have policies and guidelines for Travelers, you can ensure that each trip—regardless of what it’s for—delivers the same level of Traveler care.

On that note, having a formalized program also allows you to better manage potential risks, as well as Duty of Care.

What if You Already Have a Business Travel Program in Place?

You may think that you don’t need a dedicated meetings and events travel program in place. You already have a business travel program. 

Keep in mind, though, that M&E travel is its own specialty, with its own considerations and concerns. Your meetings and events travel program can certainly live beneath the umbrella of your overall business travel program. However, special attention to M&E travel may increase your efficiency and ROI.

What a Meetings and Events Travel Program Includes

So what should a robust meetings and events travel program include? If you’ve yet to create a fully focused meetings and events travel program, you’ll want to start by paying attention to a few vital program components: 

• Air, hotel, and ground transportation coordination
• Venue sourcing and group booking management
• Policy alignment with business travel

This final point is possibly the most important to consider. Your meetings and events travel program should work seamlessly with your business travel program. The policies should be more or less the same, even if the budget is slightly different. Travelers should know what to expect in terms of booking and policy compliance, without having to worry about different processes for their meetings and events travel versus their average business trip to see a client or visit a branch office.

How to Get Started

To get started building a meetings and events travel program, begin by auditing your current event-related travel spend. Look at every aspect of event spending, going beyond your typical event attendance cost. Transportation (both air and ground), accommodations, dining and similar costs should all be accounted for.

Then, partner with internal stakeholders to review the current events-related travel spend, your plan for events moving forward, and whether or not you’re seeing the ROI that you’d like from your events spending.

From there, you can choose to partner with a Travel Management Company (TMC) to build policies, preferred supplier lists and a reporting structure, for additional support along the way. 

Evaluate Your Current Approach to Meetings and Events

Having a dedicated meetings and events travel program in place can lead to greater cost savings, Traveler safety and an overall higher events attendance ROI.

After you evaluate your current approach to meetings and events, see how JTB Business Travel could help you streamline your M&E travel, with our robust suite of services for Executives and Travel Managers.