Forum - June/July 2009

BRAINSTORMS

Travel Industry:
‘Meetings Mean
Business’

In October 2008, less than a week after accepting an $85 billion government bailout, insurance giant AIG held a now infamous weeklong executive retreat at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif. That retreat set the stage for a barrage of criticism, at the center of which are meetings and events that members of the media and Congress have deemed frivolous, extravagant and wasteful.

In response, travel industry associations have developed a public awareness campaign called “Meetings Mean Busi-

ness” ( www.meetingsmeanbusiness.com), which uses grassroots organizing and paid advertising to promote the value of meetings and events. The campaign makes the points that meetings and events are economic stimulants that encourage workforce development, create jobs and generate valuable tax revenue for the communities that host them.

“Our campaign will challenge poli-cymakers to tone down the dangerous rhetoric, embrace sensible guidelines for companies receiving assistance and

promote travel as an economic solution,” says Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.

Although public criticism has been primarily focused on companies receiving federal economic aid, a recent survey by Meetings and Conventions magazine found that more than 20 percent of organizations not receiving taxpayer assistance have canceled events due to the threat of negative publicity.

To reverse the trend, the associations behind the Meetings Mean Business campaign — including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the Destination Marketing Association International, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, Meeting Professionals International, the National Business Travel Association, the Professional Convention

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