International meetings are getting shorter, but attendees are staying more nights

The closing session is on Thursday at two. The airport coaches are booked, the farewell catering is confirmed and the crew are already thinking about the get-out. For you, the event ends there. For some of your attendees, the trip carries on for a few more days.

The data in Athena, Sinapser’s free search engine for events industry studies, point that way from three different places.

Fewer meeting days, more hotel nights

The Meeting Industry Report Austria 2025, from the Austrian Convention Bureau and Österreich Werbung, records the congresses, corporate meetings and seminars held in Austria each year. Look only at international meetings and something curious appears.

Each year they get a little shorter. In 2023 they lasted 2.59 days on average, in 2024 2.52 and in 2025 2.44, 3.3% less than the year before. At the same time, each participant spends more nights in the country: 4.15 on average in 2024 and 4.45 in 2025, an increase of 7.4%.

Some of the gap between days and nights is only natural. People travelling from far away tend to arrive the evening before and sometimes leave the day after. What is interesting is that the meeting is getting shorter while the stay is getting longer. The report does not explain why. These are national averages, and the mix of meetings that came each year may also play a part.

A clue from Vienna

Another study, on the economic effects of Vienna’s meeting industry, carried out by the WIFO institute for the city’s tourist board, asked 819 participants at congresses, corporate events and seminars directly.

Almost a third, 32%, combined the event with a holiday or a visit to family and friends. And it was more than a plan: 54% of that group extended their stay in Vienna, and those who did so added an average of three nights. On top of that, 27% travelled with a companion who was not attending the event.

Put another way: in Vienna, part of your audience arrives with plans of its own for before or after the programme. And sometimes they do not come alone.

It is not just Austria

In the UK, VisitBritain’s report on business event delegate spending paints a similar picture. Among delegates travelling from other European countries, 33% extend their trip. Among those coming from outside Europe, 56% do.

The type of event matters too. At association conferences, 27% of delegates extend their trip. Across other formats, 10% do. So if you run association conferences, or events with a large international audience, this is especially relevant to you.

What happens after the closing session

We tend to judge an event by what happens between the welcome and the farewell. But for many attendees the trip starts earlier and ends later, and those days are part of how they remember the conference and the city. You do not need to build a second programme. A few small decisions at the planning stage will do:

• Ask at registration whether they plan to stay extra nights or bring someone along. It is a simple question that helps you size your room block better and tells you whether it is worth preparing something for companions.
• Negotiate a group hotel rate that also applies before and after the event. If part of your audience is going to extend their trip anyway, being able to do so at the same hotel and the same price is a welcome touch.
• Think about companions. In Vienna, more than a quarter travelled with someone who was not attending. A simple plan for them, or at least a good practical guide, makes a real difference to their experience.
• Prepare for the day after. Luggage storage on the last day, how to reach the airport at different times and a couple of tips about the city. It is information many people will need, and it is almost never in the programme.

Your agenda ends at the closing session. Your attendees’ agendas, less and less so.

Before you use these figures in a proposal, check carefully where each one comes from. If that is useful, have a look at Forecast or result? How to read an events industry figure. In Athena you can check each study and the page each figure comes from.

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At Sinapser we help event teams work with data and AI. If you want to get to know your attendees better, let’s talk.