Introduction

Europoll Market Survey - AIPC Version

Europoll is a market research instrument developed from a parallel study entitled “Metropoll” which has run in North America for many years. The intention of both these surveys is to analyze attitudes, preferences and information sources regarding particular destinations in the minds of both association and corporate meeting planners.

The volume of Europoll in which AIPC has participated is based on a pooling of data collected with respect to 24 different European destinations to create an overall impression of the European product. Individual studies are available for each destination which allow them to compare themselves with their competitors; however, the pooled data is also useful because it enables the reader to identify overall patterns of behaviour and opinion common to all destinations.

Europoll addresses the following areas:

  • It defines the characteristics of the largest European meeting held by respondents in the Past 12 Months in the following terms;
  • Location of meetings (by country, region and city)
  • Category of these meetings
  • Attendance and attendee characteristics
  • Facility, computer and trade exhibit requirements
  • Planning and travel patterns
  • It identifies the importance of 26 considerations in the selection of a European city for an International Convention, including such topics as travel logistics, costs, safety, quality of environment and availability of good hotels.
  • It also identifies the importance of 13 possible deterrents to the selection of a specific city for an International Convention, including concerns with safety, sanitation, cost, quality and convenience issues.
  • It identifies the importance of 19 considerations in the assessment of a Convention Center, including concerns about the size of the facility, the helpfulness and competence of staff, technical and banquet facilities and adequacy of nearby hotels.
  • It evaluates the importance of eight potentially influential groups / individuals various partiesupon the selection of geographic locations.
  • It also evaluates the importance of nineteen different information sources in the selection of a geographic location for an international meeting in Europe.
  • It rates the relative importance ofdestination web-sitesfor various uses in meeting planning.
  • It measures familiarity with and usage of trade media publications and directories and websites.
  • It identifies the European cities perceived as having the best convention centres for large international congresses.

How to use this information:

The value of this type of information is the insight it provides into factors which are important to satisfy the needs of decision makers and which ultimately result in a site decision. There is, for example, a profile of respondents that indicates their positions in the organizational structure, size of meetings and recent locations of those meetings. At the same time, there is a listing of the key factors which influence the site decision, against which individual product offerings can be compared. These are classified as “logistical”, “environmental” and “recreational” and each category contains a number of features ranked in order of their importance to decision makers.

Equally important are the survey results relating to the rating of information sources used to facilitate decision-making. The responses to this section can assist the reader in planning their marketing tactics in ways that correspond not only to how the site decision is made but also where the decision makers are most likely to look to get the information to inform their decision.

Because the survey group is divided into European and North American planners, it also allows a comparison of attitudes and preferences between these two different groups. The reader will note some distinct differences between the ways each of these groups regards the European product and the ways in which they acquire and process information about it. These comparisons are very useful in identifying which features are of greatest importance to each, how the product appears overall and how best to reach each group with promotional messages.

The primary findings of the Europoll survey follow. The complete survey is available from the AIPC Secretariat on request.

Europoll Market Survey – AIPC Version | Introduction | Nov 06 page 1 of 3