Will Meeting Budgets Really Grow in 2027, and Where Will the Money Go?

Mostly yes. Amex GBT Meetings & Events published its 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast on October 13, and 91% of the meetings professionals surveyed expect their organisation's meetings and events spend to rise next year. The catch is that cost per attendee is also expected to rise for every meeting type, so a bigger budget does not automatically mean bigger or more events. Below are the numbers that matter for planners, where they come from, and what I would do with them.

Who Did Amex GBT Survey?

The forecast is based on a YouGov survey of 500 meetings professionals in 11 countries, carried out in August 2026. It measures what planners expect for 2027, not what they actually spent, so read it as a reading of sentiment and intentions rather than market data.

Do Planners Really Expect Bigger Budgets in 2027?

They do. 91% expect overall meetings and events spend to increase in 2027, and in North America the figure reaches 96%. Optimism about the sector also went up: 93% call themselves optimistic, compared with 85% in the previous edition.

The confidence is thinner than the headline suggests, though. Only 45% say they are "very optimistic", down from 62% a year earlier. Skift Meetings summed up the report as bigger budgets with tighter scrutiny, and pointed out that much of the extra money may simply cover higher costs.

Where Is the Extra Money Going?

First, into costs. The report expects total cost per attendee to rise for every type of meeting in 2027, alongside hotel rates and airfares. For incentives and special events, 83% of planners expect cost per attendee to climb.

Second, into the attendee. Improving the attendee experience is the top priority across regions. Amex GBT's own press release headline puts it plainly: meetings professionals refuse to compromise on attendee experience in 2027. My reading is that this means more personalisation, and that is where the top AI plans below are aimed.

How Do Planners Plan to Use AI in 2027?

The planned uses are practical and none of them reaches a majority. According to the forecast, planners intend to use AI to:

• give onsite staff insights to personalise service (34%)
• handle event communications (32%)
• track attendee engagement (31%)
• generate creative concepts (31%)
• support logistics (30%)
• source venues and suppliers (24%)

What I take from this: AI in meetings is still a set of pilots, not a default. The top two uses also depend on clean attendee data. If registration, rooming lists and budget lines live in separate spreadsheets, an onsite insight tool has very little to work with.

Is Risk Management Keeping Up?

Not on paper. 79% of respondents apply risk management practices to all or most of their meetings, yet only 25% have written safety and security into their meetings policy. Geopolitics is already changing plans: coverage of the report says a significant share of planners have moved destinations, shifted some meetings to virtual or cut group sizes in response.

Which Destinations Lead the 2027 Rankings?

Amex GBT ranks the top meetings destinations by region:

• North America: Orlando, up from fourth in 2026, followed by Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Dallas.
• Europe: Barcelona overtakes London for first place, followed by London, Madrid, Paris and Lisbon.
• Latin America: Buenos Aires, then Mexico City, São Paulo, Panama City and Rio de Janeiro.
• Asia Pacific: Singapore, then Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney.

What Should Planners Do With This Forecast?

This part is my opinion, not Amex GBT's. A rising budget that is mostly absorbed by inflation is a flat budget. Before you sign off 2027 plans:

• Build each budget from cost per attendee by meeting type, not from last year's total plus a percentage.
• Write safety and security into the meetings policy, with named owners and a duty of care process.
• Pick one AI use, run it on one programme and measure it against a clear baseline.
• Track actual against budget for every event, so next year's forecast comes from your own numbers and not only from a survey.

Key Takeaways

• 91% of meetings professionals expect higher meetings and events spend in 2027, 96% in North America.
• 93% are optimistic, but only 45% are very optimistic, down from 62%.
• Cost per attendee is expected to rise for every meeting type, and 83% expect it to rise for incentives.
• Attendee experience is the top priority. The most common planned AI use, onsite staff insights, sits at only 34%.
• 79% apply risk practices to most meetings, but only 25% have safety and security in their policy.
• Orlando, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Singapore top their regional rankings.

Data sources: Amex GBT, 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast press release, Amex GBT, 2027 Global Meetings and Events Forecast report (PDF), TTG MICE, Meetings professionals prioritise attendee experience and risk management for 2027, Skift Meetings, Bigger meeting budgets, tighter scrutiny, Business Travel News Europe, Meeting planners optimistic for 2027 despite rising costs, Luxury Travel Advisor, Personalization beats Instagram bait in 2027 meetings forecast and Trade Show Executive, Amex GBT reveals top meetings destinations for 2027. Each figure in this article appears in at least two of these sources. Where outlets reported slightly different numbers, I left the figure out.