Many believe that the economic meltdown of the late 2000s will forever change business, or at least make businesses more frugal during our lifetime. This is likely to be true for many industries, but some industries such as the travel industry rely heavily on the free-spending big budgets of other companies and organizations. This could be good news for meeting and event planners. Here’s why:

• With the travel industry being more hard hit than most other industries, it is possible to get some truly amazing deals by leveraging that fact. Some deals are even unreasonably good as businesses are willing to take a small loss over a big loss to keep the doors open another season and see what happens. Take advantage while you can.
• Customer service and choices have both gotten a little bit better, but only so long as they are a known demand. The travel industry has had to let a lot of talent go, and that means that customer service is stretched thin. Some accept this along with budget prices, but that does not have to be the case. Let the management know that you expect quality service at any price and chances are good that you will get it and more.
• Some of that talent may also make for excellent meeting and/or event planners. Especially the venerable hotel or cruise line concierge. These people know how to plan meetings/events, leverage industry knowledge, and may even have contacts that will prove valuable.

Meeting and event planners often find themselves being asked to plan a variety of social and business events, regardless of their niche. Because of this, it is always a good idea to have a few tricks up your sleeve for when you choose to accept these projects. While you might be a corporate event planner who never anticipates planning a wedding, you never know when one of your best clients might ask for a favor or when uncertain economic times might encourage you to expand your service offerings. Therefore, having some unique ideas for weddings in the back of your mind might prove useful at some point in your career.

For a truly romantic, intimate setting for a wedding or vow renewal ceremony, river cruises are an excellent option. Whether opting for a small ship, a barge or an ultra-romantic steamboat, couples will have a memorable wedding day when they choose a river cruise wedding. This affordable option allows them to combine their ceremony and honeymoon in one price package and offers the opportunity for family and friends to join them for just the ceremony or for the full journey. Wedding river cruises can take place in Canada, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, the South and the Great Lakes, or on one of Europe’s many rivers, depending on the couple’s preferred destination and budget.

Planning a river cruise wedding – even if you have never planned a wedding – is easy and convenient with the group cruise planning tools at Seasite.com.

Tough economic times and shrinking budgets do not mean that your company must eliminate incentive travel packages. On the contrary, there are many cost-effective packages that will meet your needs and reward your employees for their hard work, without breaking the bank.

For example, companies based in Los Angeles, or other Southern California cities can opt for incentive travel that is a little closer to home and far more cost-effective than extravagant, exotic trips. Two- to four-day incentive cruises that stop in San Diego and popular Mexican ports provide a number of low-cost options for incentive travel. Other options include weekend trips to Solvang or Santa Barbara, or train trips up the coast.

Companies that are based in Seattle, Tacoma or the Greater Puget Sound area also have a wide variety of low-cost incentive travel options. Amtrak offers special train travel packages to the popular town of Leavenworth at certain times of the year and has regularly scheduled service to Vancouver, Canada. Seattle also has a major cruise port with cruise lines offering two- to four-day cruises to Victoria Island and Vancouver, or to stops along the coast to San Francisco, California.

These, of course, are just a few options that are available for these two major business centers, but regardless of where your company is located, there are cost-effective incentive travel packages available that will assist you in showing your appreciation to employees and encourage high productivity, while helping you stay within your allotted travel budget.

Everyone knows that incentive travel is an excellent way to reward employees for increasing sales or meeting goals. It can increase company pride, build and maintain team morale and encourage employees to continue performing at their best. Incentive travel is more cost-effective than handing out raises to show your appreciation to your top performers, and can help companies retain good employees, even when tough economic times may not allow for increases in pay.

But, there is more to incentive travel than just showing your appreciation and building company pride. Incentive travel can mean more to employees than you might know. Depending on their income level and family status, being able to put in extra effort to receive incentive travel may give them travel opportunities they might not otherwise have. By providing opportunities that they might not be able to afford to experience otherwise, you are giving your employees a particularly appealing reward that they are sure to appreciate.

Knowing this, you can enhance incentive travel packages even more by adding little extras that will not cause you to incur significantly higher expenses, but will be meaningful to your employees. For example, you could include a gift certificate for dinner for two in their destination, a gift card to a store where they might purchase things they need for the trip, or tickets to a show or event happening during their stay.

Parallel to an overall cultural shift towards buying local and taking local vacations, many companies are also shifting towards planning meetings closer to their headquarters and forgoing high profile resorts and hotels. There are multiple reasons for meeting locally, as well as a number of benefits that may not be immediately recognizable, but can serve your client companies well. As a meeting planner, you need to be aware of this shift and anticipate the needs of your clients as they take steps to save money and time by moving their meeting locations closer to home.

Opting for more affordable options that offer a good value for their money, including well-equipped meeting facilities, necessary amenities and lower transportation costs, allows companies to hold meetings, complete trainings and achieve their goals while spending less time and money doing so. The time saved by hosting a meeting at a drive-to location allows more time for completing tasks and doing business, and assists companies to stay within their budget during difficult economic times. By selecting smaller, nearby cities that are within driving distance, companies can also significantly lower their travel expenses, making their meetings more cost-effective.

Meeting locally can also offer excellent image management opportunities by showing that the company is supporting local businesses and vendors, particularly if you make it a point to ensure local catering and other services are used whenever possible.

Hawaii is one of the most desirable meeting and incentive destinations.  It is a place that inspires your attendees, and  one that people everywhere in the world dream to visit.  Participation in Hawaii incentive events generally exceeds expectations, so Hawaiian incentives can be relied on to deliver on ROI.  This is true especially in tough economic times.

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), offers meeting and incentive planners "one stop shopping" to plan a meeting in Hawaii.  They have the resources, knowledge, and connections to maximize the value of a business meeting experience for planners and their clients. They recently launched an exciting new online initiative called the Added Value Resource Center at BusinessAloha.com.  Planners can go to the site and take advantage of several innovative programs to help them save money, without sacrificing the quality of the overall Hawaii meeting experience.