Last year, it was Arthur Frommer who threatened Arizona with a tourism & travel boycott over guns. This time, Arizona has managed to shoot itself in the foot, with an Arizona Congressman calling for an Arizona boycott.
SB1070 AZ
On April 19, 2010, the Arizona Senate passed an immigration bill (SB 1070) and sent it to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature, which is expected on Saturday. The bill criminalizes illegal immigrants and gives law enforcement officials the right to check anyone they reasonably suspect.
The response to the bill has been sharp in Arizona and amongst civil rights and Latino organizations, but the controversy went national when Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva put out a statement calling for a boycott of Arizona by convention organizers.
“Tourists will not come to a state with discriminatory policies on the books… Conventions are a large source of visitors and revenue, and targeting them is the most effective way to make this point before it’s too late. Just as professional athletes refused to recognize Arizona until it recognized Martin Luther King Jr., we are calling on organizations not to schedule conventions and conferences in Arizona until it recognizes civil rights and the meaning of due process.”
The call for an Arizona boycott gained even more steam when Grijalva went on Keith Olbermann’s show to say that “We’re asking organizations, civic, religious, labor, Latino organizations of color to refrain from using Arizona as a convention site.”
Tourism in Arizona is a big part of the economy, and brought in $18.5 billion in visitor spending (2008 spending - most recent figures) and supports 167,000 jobs. Out of the total 37.4 million overnight visitors, 3.8 million were from Mexico. SB 1070 directly targets these visitors and the tourism impact is bound to be significant.
And then there’s the impact of the boycott calls. Statements from tourism officials in Arizona:-
Scottsdale CVB CEO Rachel Sacco – “the passage of this bill will have unintended, damaging consequences on this industry sector that has a $3.6 billion economic impact on the city of Scottsdale.”
Arizona Tourism Alliance President and CEO Debbie Johnson – “Continuing to pull tourism into these political battles only furthers our state’s economic decline and hurts the hundreds of thousands of tourism associates who rely on visitors to support their families.”
Greater Phoenix CVB Director of communications Douglas MacKenzie - “The missing factor is people have choices and they are not always going to tell us or express them.”
What Douglas Mackenzie is referring to is that the boycott calls and negative publicity will add more damage than can be quantified, since Arizona will be removed from consideration by many prospective visitors and convention planners, and no one will know about it.
Photo – Change.org
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5 Responses
I wonder if PhoCusWright will relocate its conference in November. I know it is probably impossible, but it will be somewhat funny if other sectors will boycott Arziona, while the tourism industry will meet there.
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