How are event planners coping amid tariff woes

As Trump tariffs continue to dominate global headlines, travel and event planners remain cautiously optimistic as they adjust strategies and explore new opportunities in Asia and beyond. At The Meetings Show Asia Pacific 2025, M&C Asia spoke with several MICE leaders on how they’re navigating the complex landscape.

Asia and the Middle East offer fresh opportunities

Bertrand Saillet, managing director of FCM Travel Asia, remains hopeful about short-term business travel demand, despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and tariffs.

“There’s a lot of speculation around the travel impact of President Trump’s tariffs,” Saillet said, “but the business meetings industry continues to be resilient in the face of changes in the geopolitical landscape.

“A reprioritisation could see an impact on travel volumes into the US as we get further into the year, but we anticipate this would be replaced with travellers focused on other regions that offer greater opportunity to businesses, such as Asia and the Middle East, for example.”

Saillet added that as ASEAN and APAC countries continue to invest in infrastructure and connectivity, bilateral agreements could further streamline travel and MICE operations across the region.

Clients are moving events to Asia

Yelle Dela Cruz, a meeting and event planner at US-based Alliances Management, has seen a noticeable shift in her clients’ strategies.

“My clients are moving their events from the US to Asia. In the short and medium term, I think this will be advantageous to Asia Pacific as we will see more volume of events in the region,” she said. “We are planning for bigger events in APAC and Europe and also considering hybrid events for US attendees who will not be able to travel.”

She anticipates more flights, events, and delegate traffic within APAC and ASEAN, especially over the next 12–18 months.

Some meetings put on hold as uncertainty grows

That isn’t to say there hasn’t been impacts on the MICE sector. KL Yuen, chief sales officer of AAVII Worldwide in Malaysia, has had clients pull the plug on events at the last minute, citing US-based instructions.

“We have started to get regional customers who have cancelled their meetings,” he said. “Two customers cancelled their events one week before their event with instructions from the US.”

Yuen also observes similar trends at BCD M&E Malaysia, whose meetings and events portion are represented by AAVII Worldwide. “Moving forward, a lot will probably be put on hold. It’s a wait and see situation now,” he added.

Industry has survived worse

Eric Papa, president and CEO of Kasel Travel Solutions in the Philippines, believes the MICE sector has already survived greater shocks than tariffs.

“Recovering from COVID was a bigger challenge than these tariffs. Our industry is built on resilience,” he said. “We’re still pushing forward with our 2025 goals, particularly in promoting sustainable tourism and farm-related MICE offerings in our country to bolster agriculture and tourism productivity and eventually help our economy.

Papa maintains a positive outlook for outbound travel, especially in the MICE sector. “I am still positive that MICE will still continue in APAC and ASEAN despite the challenges we are confronted. There will be more budget restrictions but our industry has survived the worst. We can overcome all future challenges.”