Nearly half of all in-house event professionals predict they will stage more events in 2008 than they did in 2007, while 59 percent of independent event pros say 2008 will be a busier year than this. The figures come from the annual event industry forecast commissioned by Special Events Magazine.

Although the biggest challenge for both in-house and independent event pros remains working with "reduced budgets," that concern has lessened over the years. For the year 2004, some 60 percent of in-house event pros said that working with reduced budgets would be a major challenge. But for 2008, that figure has dropped to 51 percent. By the same token, 70 percent of independent pros said reduced budgets would be a major problem in 2005, but that figure has dropped to 59 percent for 2008.

Although the home mortgage meltdown and potential for recession has made headlines in the U.S. the event industry remains confident about business in the new year. Some 51 percent of in-house event pros said "an uncertain economy" would be a major challenge to them in 2004. But this figure dropped to 31 percent for 2008. For independents, 79 percent said an uncertain economy would be a challenge to them in 2004. But that figure has fallen to 57 percent in 2008.

For the complete survey results, see the January issue of Special Events.

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