There is a misconception among a number of segments of the corporate meeting and incentive travel industry that cruises are an excessively expensive choice for corporate meetings and incentive travel. When instead, choosing to arrange your next corporate event onboard a cruise ship can be extremely economical and can effect in sizeable cost savings when compared to corporate event destinations that are land-based.

According to a recent report published in Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine, 34 percent of their readers had used a cruise for an incentive program and an astounding 72 percent said they planned to – a clear indication of where the industry is moving.

This is especially true when incentive travel and meeting planners take advantage of inviting packages offered when planning meetings with many attendees. The cost benefits can be even more if the majority of the attendees live nearby a port or cruise terminal, avoiding the need for air travel.

The notion of participating in a corporate meeting at sea event is additionally much more thrilling and intriguing to meeting participants, which results in them in reality looking forward to the voyage, to a certain extent dreading yet another incentive event where they use up hours locked in a boring meeting room in Omaha or Kansas City.

Onboard cruise ship activities and entertainment are an outstanding way to relax after a long day of meetings, and offer ample of options for days off. Stopping in fascinating ports of call also adds appeal to shipboard corporate incentive travel, and permits event participants to spend time enjoying attractions, dining, entertainment and shopping off the ship as well.

Plan your next corporate event on a cruise ship and you will find that attendees will be happier, more motivated and more productive as they enjoy the opportunity to both work and have fun onboard.

If you are planning a business incentive travel package, make it easy for yourself and delight your attendees when you go to Seasite.com start sourcing cruise event package.

You have just returned from a trip to Fiji. You have to check your email of course and surf the net to relax. Suddenly, the ads that you see in your Yahoo mailbox, on MSN, and on Amazon are all about hotels, air travel, and Fiji. Is that just a coincidence? Of course not. It is the result of a specific type of marketing known as behavioral advertising.

Behavioral advertising is an effective way to match consumer-buying patterns with their online browsing patterns. It works like this: the information gathered through Internet data is sold to companies that express interest in a specific segment of consumer online browsing. What is not sold includes names, addresses, or credit card numbers.

In the travel industry the scenario would be more like this: Joe Traveler booked a flight to Australia, he traveled first class, and requested a rental car at the airport. The company buying the information would not know Joe’s name simply that someone using his computer booked that flight and needed a rental.

Expedia admits to using behavioral advertising and calls its program PassportAds. The program is a bit controversial. Proponents argue that no personal identification information is given out so it’s harmless to consumers. Opponents insist that consumers are not well informed about this practice and they may object to it after full disclosure. Where do you stand on this interesting method of advertising?

Organizing meetings that are easy on the planet is the new trend in the meeting planning industry. If we look at the way meetings were arranged in the past, environmentalists are sure to cringe with annoyance. Planning an event usually means using a lot of paper- in the form of invitation cards, pamphlets and other meeting related documents. However thanks to modern technology, meetings no longer need to use the earth’s resources and can make do with technological or online resources that lead to a greener and healthier planet.

Here are some ways in which you can plan a green meeting: Read the rest of this entry »