The Great MICE Comeback: Why Events Are Fueling a New Travel Boom

When borders slammed shut in 2020, the meetings and events industry didn’t just slow down – it fell off a cliff. Global business travel spending plunged by 53.8% compared to 2019 as conferences were canceled, sales kickoffs went online, and incentive trips disappeared from corporate calendars.

Fast-forward to 2024 and the picture could not be more different. The Global Business Travel Association now expects worldwide business travel spending to hit about $1.48 trillion in 2024, edging past the previous 2019 peak of around $1.43 trillion.

In North America, the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector alone is estimated at roughly $140.6 billion in 2024, about 16% of the global MICE market.

In the United States, the MICE industry was valued at about $104 billion in 2023 and is projected to nearly double to ~$198 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of roughly 6.6%.

That kind of long-term trajectory suggests more than a temporary rebound. Meetings and events aren’t just “back”, they’re helping power a broader travel boom, particularly for airlines and ground transportation providers.

And according to a new report from ground mobility platform drvn, the MICE recovery is reshaping not only where business travelers go, but how the entire trip – from booking to baggage claim to back-of-house shuttle coordination – actually works.

From Standstill to Surge

When the pandemic hit, the MICE calendar cleared almost overnight. Large conferences and exhibitions were canceled or pushed years into the future. Internal meetings and training sessions moved to Zoom. The industry responded with creative hybrid formats, but much of the spending simply evaporated.

By late 2022, the underlying demand to meet in person was obvious. A survey of 100 corporate travel managers found many companies’ travel budgets were already back to 2019 levels, and nearly half expected 2023 budgets to exceed those pre-COVID figures by 6–10%.

The message from the C-suite was clear: there are some conversations you still need to have face-to-face.

Today, corporate travel and MICE spending are approaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels in much of the world. Major convention hubs like Las Vegas, Orlando, and Chicago are back to hosting full-capacity events, with corporate off-sites, trade fairs, and client experiences filling the calendar.

Conferences and Trade Shows Lead the Comeback

Not every type of meeting is recovering at the same pace. Internal trainings and smaller meetings are more likely to remain virtual or hybrid, partly to control costs.

But when it comes to big ticket events – the shows where deals are signed and products are launched – the pendulum has swung decisively back to in-person.

The drvn report points to the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), which found that by mid-2023, 79% of companies said their exhibition activity was back to “normal,” up from 72% at the end of 2022. By late 2023, that figure had climbed to about 90% in most markets.

Postponed events from 2020 and 2021 were rescheduled into a compressed 2022–2023 window, creating an unusual spike in activity.

The reason is simple: conferences and trade shows directly drive revenue. Live product demos, booth traffic, client dinners, and chance hallway conversations all translate into leads and closed business. As one hospitality analysis cited in the drvn paper puts it, these large in-person events are “driving the corporate travel comeback.”

Incentive Travel: From Perk to Power Tool

If conferences are the public face of the MICE rebound, incentive travel is the quiet power tool behind the scenes.

Incentive trips – reward experiences for top employees or key customers – were among the first programs cut during COVID. But the drvn report notes that 2023 was described as a “phenomenal year” for incentive travel, as companies reinstated trips that had been shelved and layered on new ones.

A recent survey from the Incentive Research Foundation found 53% of corporate leaders now view incentive travel as a “must-have” strategy rather than a luxury.

Budgets reflect that shift: one 2024 analysis cited by drvn shows companies dedicating about 22% of incentive program budgets just to airfare and 25% to hotels.

Travel is no longer the garnish; it’s the main course.

Globally, the incentive travel market is projected to grow from $42 billion in 2021 to over $216 billion by 2031, an annual growth rate exceeding 12%.

In the war for talent and customer loyalty, these experiences are becoming a strategic lever – and they depend heavily on reliable airlift and carefully orchestrated ground transportation.

Full Planes, Full Calendars

The rebound in events has gone hand-in-hand with a boom in air travel.

By the end of 2023, global air passenger volumes had reached roughly 94% of 2019 levels for the year, and in the fourth quarter were within 2% of pre-pandemic numbers. Domestic traffic fully recovered, with 2023 passenger counts about 3.9% above 2019 levels.

International business travel lagged slightly at around 88.6% of 2019 for the full year, but that gap was closing quickly by late 2023.

Demand is still climbing. Moody’s projected global passenger demand would grow 22% year-over-year in 2023, on top of previous gains, with another 6% growth in 2024.

Airlines and hotels consistently report that the “post-pandemic travel boom” shows little sign of slowing despite higher fares.

MICE travelers are a big part of that story. One survey cited in the drvn report found 84% of business travelers expected to attend a conference or trade show in the next six months.

Business travelers may only account for about 12% of airline passengers, but historically they generate up to 60% of airline revenues because they fly more often and buy higher-yield tickets.

In other words: every time a company green-lights a major conference or incentive program, airlines feel it in their booking systems.

The Ground Game: Mobility as the New Bottleneck

But planes are only half the story. Once travelers land, they still have to get to hotels, convention centers, off-site dinners, and networking events. That’s where the rebound is creating some of its biggest growing pains.

According to industry data summarized by drvn, ground transportation typically accounts for around 10–15% of total business trip expenses. One analysis cited in the report found an average corporate trip spends about $181 on air travel and $137 on ground transport.

As MICE travel has surged, so has demand for local mobility:

Airport shuttles moving attendees from multiple terminals to multiple hotels
Black car and chauffeured services handling VIPs, executives, and speakers
Ride-share pickups for smaller groups and last-minute journeys
Charter buses and motor coaches for large delegations and incentive excursions

drvn’s operational data shows that large-scale events are now driving record demand for coordinated ground mobility, pushing enterprises, destination management companies (DMCs), and event planners to adopt centralized, tech-enabled systems for booking and managing rides.

The challenge is that supply hasn’t fully caught up. Many drivers and vehicles left the industry during the pandemic. Now, with events back in force, “so much more demand than supply has come back” in the chauffeured transport sector, as one executive quoted in the drvn report puts it.

Providers in popular meeting destinations are often at or near capacity.

Car rental companies also spent 2021–2022 rebuilding fleets after deep cuts, and by 2023, rental rates remained elevated with further increases forecast as demand stays strong.

For chauffeurs, high demand means less pressure to discount – travel buyers report far less negotiation leverage than before COVID.

The result is a seller’s market in ground transportation, especially around major conventions, trade shows, and incentive-heavy resort destinations. Budgets are under pressure, and planners are learning they must lock in ground vendors earlier to avoid last-minute surprises.

Fewer Trips, Bigger Stakes

Despite the boom, this isn’t simply a rewind to 2019. The drvn report highlights several ways the new MICE landscape looks different.

First, companies are being more selective. Surveys show about 60% of firms have scaled back either the frequency of trips or the number of attendees they send compared to pre-COVID norms.

Routine check-ins and internal updates are handled virtually. Travel is reserved for conferences, client meetings, and events where the stakes – and potential ROI – are highest.

Second, hybrid formats are here to stay. Over half of business leaders say they still find hybrid meetings valuable and plan to maintain virtual components for reach, even as in-person remains the centerpiece.

That means some events will have smaller in-person footprints, but more strategically chosen attendees – the decision-makers, buyers, and strategic partners.

Third, costs have changed the math. Business airfares jumped nearly 50% in 2022 and rose again in 2023, even if they remain just below 2019 levels on some routes.

U.S. hotel rates were 20%+ higher in 2022, with another ~11% increase in 2023. Ground transportation costs climbed as ride-share capacity tightened and fuel prices stayed elevated.

The combination of pent-up demand and higher prices means travel managers must justify each trip more rigorously. Events that once might have been taken for granted now have to show a clear connection to pipeline, revenue, or retention.

Sustainability and Duty of Care

Overlaying all of this is a growing focus on sustainability and traveler well-being.

According to the drvn report, roughly 44% of event teams now consider sustainability factors when choosing destinations, including minimizing long-haul flights, picking regional hubs, or designing smarter shuttle plans to cut duplicate trips.

Some organizers are purchasing carbon offsets to mitigate travel emissions.

At the same time, duty of care remains a priority. COVID may no longer be halting events, but organizers are keeping sanitization measures, contingency plans, and stronger medical support in their programs. Travel insurance and health assistance are being woven more tightly into corporate travel policies.

These factors aren’t slowing the rebound, but they are shaping how it plays out – pushing planners to be more deliberate about where they meet, how they move people, and how they support them along the way.

Air and Ground: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Taken together, the data in drvn’s report paints a picture of an industry that has not only come back from a historic shock, but is learning from it.

By 2024, global business travel and MICE spending are expected to surpass pre-pandemic peaks, with forecasts pointing to over $2 trillion in global business travel spend by 2028 if current trends hold.

North America’s meetings and events scene is once again bustling, from convention centers to incentive resorts, driving parallel booms in both air and ground transportation demand.

But that growth is also a stress test. Airports, airlines, hotels, and mobility providers all face staffing, fleet, and infrastructure challenges. Seven in ten travel suppliers reported staffing shortages in a recent GBTA poll, leading to slower check-ins, fewer taxis at peak times, and other friction points.

The sector is responding with aggressive hiring and investment – from airlines bringing jets out of storage to ground fleets modernizing and expanding.

For transportation providers, it’s both a windfall and a mandate to innovate. Companies like drvn are betting that integrated platforms, APIs, and real-time dashboards will become standard tools for managing the complex choreography of event mobility at scale.

The “great MICE comeback” has proven that meeting in person still matters – for sales, for strategy, for culture. The next challenge is making sure the transportation networks that support those meetings are robust, agile, and sustainable enough to keep up. If that happens, the events industry won’t just have bounced back; it will have helped usher in a smarter, more resilient era of business travel.

Sources

Michael DeBoer
+1 (786) 933 7300 Ext. 296
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