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Cos. to bolster mtg. spend: NBTA survey forecasts 5 percent budget enhancements.

Article Excerpt
Corporations next year will increase their meeting and convention budgets by an average of 5 percent, according to the annual business travel forecast of the National Business Travel Association.

The forecast, based on a wide-ranging and formal survey of the association's membership, is the first public study to predict increased corporate meeting spending in 2004, though it does not extensively elaborate on the rationale for the potential increase. However, many industry observers pointed to training meetings and group incentive travel as two areas on which corporations are likely to spend more.

"It's certainly not going to be consistent," said Dave Sonricker, executive vice president and general manager of Chicago-based WorldTravel Meetings & Incentives. "Some will remain relatively fiat, and some are looking to tighten up in a few key areas. Overall, budgets will not decrease."

"In general, we're seeing a loosening in larger meetings, which is where we've seen dramatic reductions in the expenditures in the past few years," said Jay Roseman, vice president of American Express Meetings...

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