Don't count on the Americans

The evidence of my visits this week to Taipei and Beijing suggests that there are still plenty of Americans travelling despite the deteriorating world security situation. Clearly, however, can expect to see reduced numbers getting on planes to international meetings if we take heed of the Meeting Industry Soapbox blog's posting Does Int'l Conflict Spell End of Overseas Meetings?

The piece starts:

With the conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon--and Hamas in Gaza--now at the point of war, and India limping yet again from terrorist attacks, it's time for companies to reassess just how many meetings they plan to take overseas in 2007.


It concludes:

Will businesses have to meet in India anyway?

It's a lousy topic to have to address, but here we are, with no choice.


So far, American Business Media, seems to be pressing ahead with plans for CEO missions to China and India according to Folio's story. The piece quotes ABM's Gordon Hughes saying ""The most critical people we meet with will be government officials. You can't do business in China without permission from the government. There's no private industry." Not sure that last point is quite right, but I appreciate what he's getting at.