As the events industry recovers from high inflation and cost of living, new research shows requests for corporate Christmas party bookings are already booming.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 19, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- UK economic growth may still be faltering, but that seemingly won’t stop businesses investing big in their corporate Christmas party plans. That’s according to new data from Christmas party planning experts Poptop - one of the UK’s leading online events booking platforms. But as demand skyrockets for the festive season, are there enough quality suppliers still trading to keep up with demand?

The festive party planning boom
Poptop recently conducted research involving over 420 of its corporate clients, in order to gauge the current health of the market ahead of the Christmas season - a crucial source of seasonal revenue for the events sector. The results revealed a staggering uptick in corporate Christmas party activity, with demand for corporate party suppliers not only outstripping the previous year, but in fact - based on Poptop’s intimate knowledge of the industry - representing the strongest festive season demand in potentially more than two decades. Businesses are also planning these events much earlier than usual. Over a quarter of the companies researched had already locked in their Christmas party plans as early as June - a far cry from the traditional trend of corporate bookings picking up from October onwards. This flurry of market activity begs the question - in the midst of serious economic uncertainty, what’s driving this incredible events sector growth?

Growing demands from the corporate sector
The truth is, this festive season boom doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Summer 2023 has also seen huge increases in corporate events bookings on previous years - with a 68% rise in events vs pre-pandemic levels. This huge demand is now seemingly spilling over into the end of year celebrations, too. But why? One answer may lie in a growing focus on staff wellbeing.

Businesses looking to maintain high staff morale in the era of hybrid working face a difficult juggling act. On one hand, hybrid working has proven immensely popular with UK workforces, increasing levels of job satisfaction and personal autonomy. But there are, of course, drawbacks. Team members can become isolated, productivity can be affected, and close staff bonds can begin to dwindle. Smart HR departments are seeing corporate activities as a novel way to counteract these issues - regularly bringing team members together for team building and family days can really rekindle important connections amidst the workforce.

A new era of Christmas party trends
This newfound focus on regular corporate events means the party industry is seeing greater levels of attention from corporate party bookers. With team-building and in-person events more and more crucial to office cohesion, greater care is being taken to plan events in advance - evidenced by that more than 25% rise in early festive bookings.

This attention to detail also extends to the nature of the events themselves. Rather than just simply opting for the traditional boozy knees-up of previous years, corporate bookers are thinking outside the box with their Christmas party plans. Family friendly parties and themed events are two sectors growing in popularity - with new and unusual bookings like live action murder mystery parties proving incredibly popular on Poptop. Street food, mobile bars, DJs and music remain incredibly popular categories on Poptop too - and perhaps with one eye on the budget, many more corporate events are being planned in-office rather than at expensive third party locations.

Can the industry match demand?
Whilst this increased demand is undoubtedly good news for the events sector, one potential question mark remains. Post COVID, the party industry saw up to a 30% drop in supplier numbers as sole traders left a stalled industry - and ‘cost of living’ issues have continued to squeeze some suppliers out of business in recent years. There are concerns amongst sector leaders as to whether enough suppliers remain to cope with such a high volume of incoming bookings. But the market remains resilient, and hopeful. Those suppliers that have stayed the course throughout the last few turbulent years are surely in for the busiest festive period of their professional careers.

Eugene Shestopal
PoptopUK
eugene@poptop.co.uk
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