Crackdown takes bite out of meetings

Policies to curb lavish spending continue to squeeze profits of high-end restaurants, hotels

Linda Liu was surprised to find that booking a banqueting room for a company meeting was an unusually easy task during the Christmas season. Finding large suites at hotels in Beijing's central business district is usually impossible in December, but during last year's Christmas season, Liu, a marketing director for a beverage manufacturer, was offered promotional packages with plenty of available dates.

The meeting and conference industry nationwide has been experiencing a hard time since the government introduced policies to crack down on lavish spending of public funds almost a year ago. According to Xinhua News Agency, spending on conferences by the Ministry of Public Security has fallen 80.9 percent compared with a year ago.