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.

Many business meeting planners have taken steps to locate corporate meetings in centralized locations, which allows participants to attend meetings closer to home. This has come on the heels of pressure to limit the environmental effects of transportation and an increasing need to cut costs wherever possible.

This new consideration of locations is also an important factor in assisting your corporate clients in maintaining a positive image, particularly with everything from meeting locations and travel expenses, to the quality of food being served and additional amenities offered being reported in the news or on various online channels.

Hosting meetings closer to where participants live means using more regional transportation. While train travel and charter buses are two viable options, many clients will require air travel to accommodate tight schedules and busy professionals.

Fortunately, there is a new trend in air travel that makes this option more appealing to higher-end clientele. Major airlines, such as Delta, Northwest, United and American Eagle are now offering premium seating and service on regional flights. First class and business class seating options are no longer reserved solely for mainline flights and are quickly becoming the norm for regional subsidiaries.

This is great news for business meeting planners that cater to clients who prefer premium services, or companies that wish to offer upscale seating as part of their incentive travel packages.

The world of meeting and event planning is changing. As companies cut their budgets and keep a closer eye on expenses and an increasingly environmentally aware market demands that companies take noticeable eco-friendly steps to stay ahead of the curve, event planners must continue to come up with new, innovative ideas to keep their clients happy and the business coming in.

If you can make a name for yourself as an event planner that can assist clients in saving money and giving their image an eco-edge, you will be well ahead of the competition in the years to come.

One example of how you can help your clients cut costs and make their next meeting or event an eco-friendlier affair is to encourage the use of train travel for transportation. If the meeting is in close proximity to company headquarters, or near where most attendees reside, this is a particularly enticing option that will lower the carbon footprint of the event and show that the company is taking environmentally responsible steps.

Train travel is also more affordable and is enjoyable for the commuters, allowing them to relax and enjoy the ride, or brush up on talking points before their presentation. Begin to incorporate train transportation options into your event planning and you may be pleasantly surprised at the attention it will garner.