There are a couple of interesting items in the San Diego Business Journal Online today:

Hotels Get a Hefty Share of Corporate Good Fortune

It’s hard to tell whether California’s reputation of being unfriendly to business is losing some of its tarnish, but an increase in corporate meetings — most of it coming from in-state — has prompted at least one hotel executive, Omni San Diego Regional Manager Ed Netzhammer, to add another sales manager to help with the workload.

and

Budget Alert: Travel Costs Expected to Increase in ’07

While corporate meeting planners work to negotiate travel plans with hotel companies, one thing has become clear, according to the annual American Express Business Travel Forecast published this year: Costs are going up.

The juxtaposition of these two articles says to me that, despite increasing costs, those meetings are worth sending people to, at least in California. That’s music to my ears and, I’m guessing, yours.

After reading about tourists taking photos in Times Square are spreading the advertising messages there far beyond New York, I couldn’t help but wonder if meeting sponsors also realize that all those photos attendees take could do likewise for their messages. Just a thought.