Controversial Laws Make Some States a Harder Sell for CVBs

Convention and visitor bureaus are not political entities; their job is to attract and welcome travelers. Given that charter, nearly all try to keep hot topics out of their messaging. But when divisive legislation has a growing number of meeting planners opting to go elsewhere, how should they respond?

“People literally are pulling 20 to 30 states off the list of places they’re considering,” says Jack Johnson, chief advocacy officer for Destinations International, who hears a lot of confidential information from member CVBs. While DI doesn’t have statistics on lost business, “I do know it is getting worse,” he told Northstar in mid-July. 

Some high-profile cancellations make the news, but lost business is very difficult to quantify, says Stacy Ritter, CEO of Visit Lauderdale (Florida). At a recent industry event, planners from the American Craft Spirits Association, the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine, and Humana told her sales team that Florida is completely off the table for future consideration. “This is business we can’t even bid on,” laments Ritter, who suspects many others have made that call.

Such issues aren’t limited to Florida. “Every state, including Texas, is one legislative session away from catastrophe,” a CVB executive told Northstar on condition of anonymity.

Currently, near-total abortion bans are in effect in 14 states. For this and other reasons, states like Tennessee and Texas are “major targets” for boycotts, according to Johnson, and they’re losing business from associations, corporations, sports and esports organizations, and SMERF groups (social, military, educational, religious and fraternal), he says.

Of course, there's a flip side: The same laws that deter some groups attract others, although in lesser numbers, sources concur. One meeting planner added this comment in responding to the latest Northstar/Cvent Meetings Industry PULSE Survey: “We will not book events in locations or at facilities espousing ‘woke’ business practices or policies. We will consider local policies — including reverse discrimination (implied or official), discrimination against Christians, and support or preference (implied or official) for LGBTQIA+ groups or individuals — as disqualifiers.”

Why suffer in silence?

By all accounts, CVB executives talk amongst themselves, but very few are willing to speak with the media about the impact of controversial legislation on group business. Visit Lauderdale’s Ritter is a very vocal exception. “Everyone struggles with this problem,” she says of her counterparts in other Florida bureaus. “We are all seeing lost business. We don’t think that it is an issue that should be swept under the rug.”

Ritter is frustrated that her counterparts across the state aren’t speaking out. One bureau leader told her he won’t discuss legislation because, “We don’t want to be targeted.” Ritter counters, “I do not think it is a heavy lift to say human rights are universal. I think we should all be saying it. If the entire tourism industry in all of Florida’s major cities were to speak with one voice and share the same message, I think it would finally resonate.” 

Of about a dozen inquiries to Florida bureaus, Northstar received a few prepared statements from CVBs declaring that their destinations are welcoming and inclusive, yet without mentioning any policy issues. The majority did not reply to requests for further comments. 

A notable exception is Orlando, the nucleus of Florida’s tourism business. “We have lost potential future business with groups specifically citing the current political climate,” says Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. 

Planners are asking questions, and Visit Orlando discusses legislation in detail with concerned clients, she adds. “We also share facts about how the weaponization of travel impacts destinations, often with unintended consequences, namely to travel and tourism workers whose livelihoods depend on visitation to our destination.”

Meanwhile, tourism tax dollars in Orlando’s home, Orange County, have declined recently, from $33 million in April to $26 million in May, according to published reports. After rising steadily for two years, the dip could represent a return to normal travel patterns after a post-pandemic surge, officials suggest. Event organizers point to other reasons. 

At least five groups moved out of Orlando in recent weeks. Con of Thrones 2023, scheduled to bring some 4,000 Game of Thrones fans to the Hyatt Regency Orlando Aug. 25-27, canceled just two months out, citing the state’s “increasingly antihumanitarian legislation and atmosphere” in a statement. 

For the same reasons, 2023 will be the fifth and final year AnitaB.org will hold its annual Grace Hopper Celebration in the city. The event will bring some 25,000 tech professionals — primarily women and nonbinary people — to Orlando Sept. 26-29. An online announcement blames “harsh state-mandated restrictions that challenge our mission and hurt our members.”

Earlier this summer, Fort Lauderdale  lost meetings due to the state’s policies regarding education on Black history and sexual identity, says Ritter. Among them was the 100 Black Men of America, a national mentoring organization, which won’t send any RFPs to Florida.

Visit Lauderdale tries hard to save convention business, she adds. “Our message is that when you don’t come, you hurt the people who share your values. I have that conversation with meeting organizers. People in Broward County believe in teaching real history,” says Ritter. “The people who live here rely on tourism to feed their families.”

The argument against boycotts

Florida became a focus of the national debate about abortion rights in April, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Other legislation spurred the NAACP and other civil-rights organizations to advise against travel to the state, citing risks to visitors and residents who are Black, LGBTQ+, immigrants and others in marginalized groups.

Equality Florida, which advocates for equal rights for the state’s LGBTQ+ community, issued an advisory in April warning of the “risks to health, safety and freedom” associated with visiting Florida. Similar advisories have been issued by the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino civil rights organization; and the Florida Immigrant Commission.

While staying away from any polarizing topics, Florida’s CVBs are unified in denouncing boycotts and encouraging groups who oppose the state’s laws to come and make their points in person. That’s a hard sell, admits Ritter, who is particularly frustrated by the assumption that the whole state is of one mind. “All of Florida gets lumped together, all 20 million people who live here. People think we all agree with what our leaders are saying, but 20 million people don’t share one opinion.” 

In many states, the metro areas that draw the most meetings are more politically liberal than state legislators. In Ohio, where a six-week abortion ban was enacted in June 2022, Columbus mayor Andrew J. Ginther was quick to condemn the action as “devastating to women and girls” in a statement on Twitter. 

“In Columbus, like many cities across the country, the perspective of our city leadership on various legislative issues often differs from the state’s,” says Brian Ross, president and CEO of Experience Columbus, the city’s CVB. “We work to showcase how welcoming and inclusive Columbus is throughout our marketing.” The sales team shares key accolades and facts, such as how Columbus scored a 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index in 2022, along with local diversity initiatives to paint a more complete picture of the community.

Ohio’s six-week ban was later rescinded, and abortions are now legal up to 22 weeks of gestation in Ohio. No groups canceled during that interim period, says Ross, adding, “Our team responds to any controversial legislative issues by welcoming any group to discuss concerns with our executives.”

Similar stories are told in Texas. In San Antonio, the bureau works hard to protect residents and travelers from laws that are harmful or biased. “On abortion, these are no longer state laws, they are federal U.S. laws and bills that we must stand against as Americans,” says Marc Anderson, president and CEO of Visit San Antonio, which just released a statement outlining its culture of inclusivity and tolerance. “We’ve heard concerns from meeting planners, and they have been able to move forward when learning of our city’s welcoming, progressive environment. The bottom line is: Travel bans hurt Americans of diverse races, immigrants, our friends who identify as LGBTQ+ and millions of hard-working people the most.” 

Strict abortion laws and other measures have come under fire in Tennessee, but Nashville sells a different story. “The legislative actions of the state do not necessarily reflect the opinions of our city, nor do they define our visitors’ experience,” says Adrienne Siemers, chief sales officer of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. “The city, the industry and the NCVC have worked tirelessly on solutions in support of equity, inclusivity, sustainability and moderation.”

The hospitality industry tends to be more inclusive than the states’ lawmakers, suggests John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA). “In Florida — maybe not all of Florida but most of Florida — the tourism offices are big advocates for diversity. The government of Florida is a different beast,” he says. 

IGLTA has been fielding calls from planners wondering whether they should take their meetings to Florida. “Not just from LGBT organizations,” says Tanzella, “but associations in general. They’re asking, ‘What do we do with our LGBTQ attendees and allies? If they don’t want to go to our convention in Florida, we’re going to lose money.’”

Like the state’s CVBs, Tanzella encourages groups to come. “We tend to preach that boycotts don’t necessarily help. By avoiding bringing your conference to a welcoming destination like St. Pete or Fort Lauderdale or Miami, you’re directly hurting the community and the LGBTQ-owned businesses there.”

It’s a somewhat difficult argument, he acknowledges. “It’s a very nuanced conversation. People will say ‘I’m not going to go somewhere where they’re targeting our community.’ I get that. But our stance is that it’s better to go and support LGBT businesses.”

Show up and speak out

Many groups do express their opposition to issues of concern when they’re in town, Tanzella notes. “A lot of organizations either have an extra day or half day set aside to meet with officials, or the organizers of the conference bring in officials to meet with the group. It’s just that when you’re in South Florida, the governor’s office isn’t going to come down from Tallahassee, and in South Florida you’re kind of preaching to the choir.”

IGLTA’s 2021 annual conference was held in Atlanta, when voting rights were a hot topic. Members wanted the organization to move the event out of Georgia, says Tanzella, but to do so with just a few months lead time would have been challenging. “Instead, we organized volunteer activities that supported equal rights. It didn’t have anything to do with LGBT in that situation; the concern was about Black people being pushed out of the voting process. So we were going to stand in by helping them vs. just not showing up.”

Most importantly, it’s not the role of CVBs to support or oppose legislation, Fort Lauderdale’s Ritter emphasized, but rather to attract and support visitors. “Florida as a state is under the microscope,” she said. “We need to be speaking with one voice. Every industry — retail, hotels, convention centers — needs to share the message that we are a welcoming, accepting destination.”

Calling for a Coalition

Earlier in the year, DI was working on an updated toolkit to guide planners in their destination decisions and dissuade them from boycotting, but that effort was paused with the realization that this is a bigger issue than any one organization can take on, says Johnson. “I think the thing right now is to take a deep breath, start talking with others in the industry, and let’s build a really broad-based coalition of partners and come up with a strategy to push forward.”

Industry attorney Joshua Grimes agrees. “The laws are what the laws are. To me, they’re no different than any other laws that you know. You can drive more than 35 miles an hour in some zones and not others. That’s the law. You can bring a firearm into a convention center or hotel in some states, and in some states you can’t. To me, the issue is how do you work with it?” (Listen to Grimes on this topic in our Eventful podcast.)

DI just held it’s 2023 Annual Convention in Dallas July 18-20. Johnson was particularly pleased, because Texas is “a state that’s been targeted” for boycotts. Some members questioned the decision to stay in Dallas, he admits “but this is exactly what conferences, trade shows and associations should do.” 

Clearly, Johnson adds, “we need a bigger, broader strategy, because this problem is going nowhere.”