Excellent article on the battle to save the event, travel and meeting industry from pandering politicians who try to bond with the blue-collar worker, by attack the travel perks of white collar workers. What they seem to forget is that these so-called boondoggles keep Joe SixPack employed.
In February, as the global economic tsunami swept across the globe and the word “bailout” was a daily headline somewhere, the turmoil struck the meetings industry with full force. Goldman Sachs, a recipient of bailout money, abruptly cancelled a Las Vegas conference. A few days earlier, Wells Fargo, another recipient of federal funds, had done the same thing. As a result, the headline of a story in The New York
Times a week later said it all: “Las Vegas Sags as Conventions Cancel.” The newspaper reported that Las Vegas had lost 30,000 room nights, and $20 million in revenue as a result of January meeting cancellations.
It didn’t help that President Obama had said publicly that companies getting government assistance should not go to Las Vegas on taxpayer dollars.
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But it wasn’t just Las Vegas that took the hit. Virtually every major meetings destination did, along with landmark resort properties such as the venerable Greenbrier and The Broadmoor. The result has been a ripple effect that has shaken the industry to its core. Read the rest here … Meetings Industry Fights Back.
