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The International Monetary Fund’sWorld Economic Outlook (WEO) projections indicate that global growth will moderate to about 4 percent through 2012, down from over 5 percent in 2010. Real GDP in the advanced economies is projected to expand at a relatively weak pace of about 1½ percent in 2011 and 2 percent in 2012. However, this assumes that European policymakers contain the crisis in the euro area periphery; that US policymakers strike a judicious balance between support for the economy and medium-­‐term fiscal consolidation; and that volatility in global financial markets does not escalate.


The European Travel Commission’s Trends & Prospects Quarterly Report for Q3 stated that their global economic growth forecast had been lowered to 2.8 percent in 2011 and 3.1 percent in 2012 (at market exchange rates), due to prevailing signs of economic weaknesses.


More pessimistically, the same source concludes that after the recovery from the economic crisis caused by global financial turmoil, the world economy is threatened with another possible recession, with risks coming from three different fronts:


* An escalation of the Eurozone debt crisis including financial contagion * The possibility that the US falls back into recession, and * A hard landing in the emerging economies and China in particular. Each of these three scenarios could be sufficient to tip the world back into recession.


However, within the meetings and events industry, there is a greater degree of optimism for the year ahead than general business confidence might indicate. Advito, for example, predicts that corporate meetings demand will continue to grow worldwide, approaching peak 2008 levels by year-­‐end 2012. In terms of price, the same source notes that rising demand and generally stable supply can only mean one thing: hotel rates for meetings will rise faster in 2012 than in 2011 and then will accelerate even more sharply in 2013, owing to the strength of forward bookings, giving suppliers more confidence. Hotel rates are expected to return to 2008 levels in 2013/2014. The price differential between second-­‐ and third-­‐tier cities compared with primary destinations is also expected to widen.


Another valuable contribution to estimating the outlook for corporate meetings comes from the ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives)/Accor White Paper, launched at the ACTE Global Education Conference in Paris, in October 2011.


The corporate buyers surveyed for the White Paper were asked: ‘How would you describe your company's 2012 budget for meetings & events?’


46 percent of respondents said ‘About the same’ 33 percent said ‘Higher than 2011’ 21 percent said ‘Lower than 2011’.


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