Arbitration has always been there and always will be. I've also served as an advocate in hundreds of mediations over the last few years. As a neutral, I can remember almost having to drag parties, both in Europe and Asia, to mediations when it wasn't in the contract a few years ago. Now there's considerably less difficulty in persuading people to give it a try. Some of that is a function of culture.
Mediation is much easier to sell.
People don't have the same concerns about the neutrals there. Particularly in Europe, they have a very pronounced desire to use their own source. This is particularly true if you're working on a contract where it will be a stepped process, where you're going to go directly in the same provider realm from mediation to arbitration. In some countries it's just cultural arrogance. They're afraid that if they submit to a foreign mediator, many of the nuances will be lost.