Conference destination selection in the corporate sector

Master's thesis in International Hospitality ManagementThe study has an overall focus on the selection of conference destinations for the corporate sector. The main research question is: What factors influence the conference destination selection and how do they relate? Under this we investigated three areas; the destination factors ranking on importance, relationships between destination factors and intervening factors, and differences on the importance levels of destination factors across the groups of the intervening factors. Most empirical findings are similar in regards to the factors that are of importance in influencing the selection of a destination. The factors are; accessibility, affordability, facilities, quality of service, attractions and entertainment, safety and security and image. In the process of selecting a destination for a conference various aspects affects the planning and thereby the evaluation of the destination factors, these are called intervening factors. This study look at the relationships among the destination factors mentioned and the intervening factors size of the corporation, economic turnover, use of intermediaries, number of conferences organized yearly by the corporation and the number of delegates usually at the smallest and largest conferences. A method triangulation was conducted, with interviews of intermediaries and local suppliers for the conference industry, literature review and a questionnaire respondent by meeting planners in the corporate sector in Norway. The research resulted in the findings of a ranking of the destination factors based on their level of importance, and the ranking was first quality of service, then accessibility, facility, affordability, safety and security, image and last attractions and entertainment. Conference destination selection 7 When exploring the relationships among the intervening factors and the destination factors, quite a few medium and strong correlations were found. The strongest correlations were between image and quality of service, facility and quality of service, accessibility and number of conferences organized, facility and number of conferences organized, and between attractions and use of intermediary. Accessibility and facility also had significant higher important scores for those organizing the number of conferences of respectively over ten and between 3-4 delegates. Attractions and entertainment also had significant higher importance score for those using intermediary services, than those that do not. The findings are, especially because of the sample size, not generalizable to the population at large, but they can imply certain tendencies maybe worth being aware of and investigate further. Key words: Destination factors, intervening factors, intermediary, conference industry and destination selection