Lucia Chen

I update my estimate: the relationship between the impact of local events and destination validation is conditional, with a 60% probability that it is significant for leisure trips, but only 20% for business trips.
Here in Italy, experience shows that the hierarchy of planning factors is not stable.
For a leisure-seeking traveler, such as attending the Palio of Siena, the local event is central; the probability that it strongly influences the choice of destination is high.
However, for a commercialista going to Milan for a meeting, the availability of a local event has a very low probability of impacting their decision.
Their priorities are transportation and accommodation, not the Venice Film Festival, so the importance of the local event depends on the type of trip.

The trend points towards a reality where the impact of local events on travel planning will be structurally different.
In a generation, the notion of avoiding crowds or exorbitant prices due to an event will be obsolete.
Technological advances in flow management and flexible accommodation platforms will enable unprecedented fluidity, such as staying with locals via decentralized networks activated for a local festival, or hyper-optimized transportation.

I hear the concern that local events can dictate the choice of a destination, and it is valid to think about complications, but their influence is often overestimated and is not always the decisive factor.
You are not wrong to feel that it can disrupt everything, nevertheless, experience shows that it is not an insurmountable obstacle if we are flexible.
For family vacations, for example, if a major event like the Montreal Jazz Festival makes hotels too expensive, one can simply shift the dates by a few days or find accommodation in a nearby neighborhood.
We manage logistical risks, we do not let the destination be dictated.
Travel is also about adaptation.

Enough of this theory, there must be a clear trigger for conference preparation, not a unified vision based on a travel anecdote.
Asserting that uniformity is essential, like for a long journey, is a nullification of local realities.
Here, the important thing is to manage prior appointments or regional variations; a rigid conference will quickly become obsolete.
For example, a conference should offer strategies to adapt to visa changes, not a single plan.

Define the order, not the worldview: a personal driving experience, even relaxing, cannot standardize the preparation of a conference for others.
This does not constitute a trigger for universal planning, as each participant has unique needs.
For example, thinking that the 1200 km trip in a camper "standardizes" conference preparation does not take into account family constraints or administrative appointments (cita previa) which are crucial here in Spain.
The invalidity of this diversity makes the conference impractical for many.
A conference should rather offer tools to adapt planning to the size of the group, budget, and individual preferences.