77% of Belgians say they have attended events in the past year. This is according to the quarterly survey conducted by the Confederation of the Belgian event sector in October 2024, together with the research agency iVOX, among a representative sample of 1,000 Belgians. The public surveys reveal that Belgians are finding it increasingly important to be able to attend events. But will supply still be able to sufficiently cover the demand for events?
Event management, a good study choice
In order to continue attending events in the future, the influx of trained professionals in the sector needs to be strengthened. The quarterly survey reveals that 55% of Belgians think studying event management in higher education is a good choice. Also 55% believe that working in the event sector offers good professional future prospects.
However, higher education enrolment figures show that fewer people are choosing event management courses this academic year. According to the Event Confederation manager, there would be the (unjustified) perception among a lot of study-goers that it is not easy to find a job in the event sector. However, quarterly surveys show that the demand for events is rising, but also that there is a shortage of (especially qualified) staff. ‘We are therefore calling on the many college students to opt en masse for event-related courses, ideally in combination with management, production or engineering,’ says Christine Merckx.
Job security as motivator
Making the job of event professional more attractive requires a certain degree of stability and predictability. This is not so simple. After all, that security depends on several and often difficult to reconcile factors, such as climate challenges and the ticket prices visitors are (but) willing to pay.
On the one hand, you have the more extreme weather conditions and the often uncertain weather forecasts. The survey results show that 62% of visitors consider the weather forecast important in their ticket purchase decision. 56% even sometimes postpone their ticket purchase depending on the weather forecast. On the other hand, barely 33% of visitors are willing to pay more to organise more sustainable events. More so, 75% say that if prices at public events become even more expensive, they will not want to go.
The event sector thus faces a major challenge. If the costs for organisers are rising and cannot be passed on to visitors, then other (support) measures need to be taken if we want to keep the supply in line with event demand in the future.
