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

ARLINGTON, Va. — Jan. 10, 2024 — 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.
⁰  San Diego: Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology, Consulting, National Association,
HealthCare, Charity/Non-Profit.
⁰  San Francisco: Charity/Non-Profit, Education, Training/Education, Technology, and
Arts/Performing Arts.
⁰  Seattle: Charity/Non-Profit, Entertainment/Media, Healthcare, National Association, and
Technology.
⁰  Orlando:  Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology, Healthcare, Technology, National
Associations, Wedding, and Technology.
⁰  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.