ALiteratureReviewofResearchonSiteSelectionCriteriaforMeeting andExhibitionPlanners

Abstract：Thepurposeofthisworkistoreviewempiricalstudiesregardingthesiteselectionprocessundertakenby meetingandexhibitionplanners，andtoarouseacademicconcernsandupgradethepraxisofprofessionalmeeting planninginChina.Basedonunderstandingoftheevolutionprocessofsiteselectioncriteria，conventionand visitors？bureauandrelatedpersonnelatmeetingorexhibitiondestinationswillbeabletoprovidetargeted，personalizedserviceandinformationthatplannersmostneedwhenmakingtheirsiteselectiondecision.Thiswill helpplannerstomakemoreinformeddecisionsintheselectionofdestinationsandfacilities，whichcanattractmore conferencesandexhibitionsandeventuallyformamutuallybeneficialcycleandenhanceplanners？competitiveness.

Atotalof27knownempiricalstudiesrelatedtomeetingplanners？siteselectioncriteria，publishedinmajor hospitalityandtourismjournalsfrom1977to2012，werecollectedbykeywordsearchingfromwell？known databases，andthesestudieswerecontent？analyzed.Eachstudywasreviewedtodocumentthevariouselements，andthiswasusedtoassessthestateofresearchregardingmeetingplanners？siteselectioncriteria.Theresultsshow thatofthe27articlesanalyzed，20werepublishedfrom2000to2012，whichaccountsfor74.07%ofallthe researchexaminedinthispaper.Theresultalsoindicatedthatresearchregardingmeetingsiteselectionbyplanners hasmainlyfocusedonNorthAmerica.Withthegrowingimportanceofconventionandexhibitionactivities，studies concernedwiththeAsia？Pacificregionhavegraduallyincreased.Severalrelativelyconsistentfindingsofmeeting siteselectionwerealsoobtainedhere.Importantselectioncriteriaincludethefollowing：themeeting/exhibition destinationaswellasthequalityandperformanceofmeetingspaceandhotelrooms；thecostsincludinghotel rooms，meetingspace，foodandbeverageandothercosts；safetyandsecurity；availablehumanresources.Tobe moreprecise，throughoutthereviewedliterature，meetingspacesize，hotelroomquality，andtheavailabilityof facilitieswereconsistentlyfoundtobeimportantcriteriaduringthemeetingsiteselectionprocess.Asforevaluation oftheconference/exhibitiondestination，moststudiesfoundthatmeetingplannersmainlyfocusonthedestination image，geographiclocation，environment，accessibility，andreputationforhostingsuccessfulconferencesor exhibitions.Costoraffordabilityisoftenconsideredtobeanimportantcriterioninsiteselection.Becausethereare variouscosts，thecostsattheconferenceorexhibitiondestinationshouldbeassessedasawhole.Inaddition，about halfofthereviewedstudiesfoundthatthesafetyandsecurityofparticipantswasacriterionidentifiedasimportant tomeetingplanners.Finally，thereviewrevealedthatthecooperation，helpfulness，andservicequalityof conventionormeetingstaffandemployeesareimportantstandardsintheselectionofmeetingsite.Therefore，itis necessaryformeetingplannerstoinvestigatetheavailablehumanresourcespriortomeetingvenueselectionand investment.

Adiscussionofthefindingsandsuggestionsforfutureresearchinthefieldofconventionandmeeting managementarepresentedinthispaper.Itisassertedthatcross？culturalresearchinthisfield，alongwith cooperationbetweenstakeholders，shouldbegivenagreatdealofattention.

Keywords：meetingandexhibitionplanners；meetings，incentives，conventionsandexhibitions（MICE）industry；meetingsiteselectioncriteria；literaturereview