Black Meetings and Tourism

Black Meetings & Tourism June/July 2009 : www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com M any of you remember the story of Andrea Gail. The Andrea Gail was the 72-ft. commercial fishing boat chronicled in the film "The Perfect Storm" starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. For those unfamil- iar with this true story, on October 30, 1991 a wicked storm battered the Massachusetts coastline off of Cape Ann about 30 miles northeast of Boston. The mountainous tides and heavy winds caused over $35 million in damage. The Andrea Gail and its crew of six were lost at sea, capsized in 100-ft. waves. You might be wondering where I'm going with this – bare with me a moment longer. The so-called Perfect Storm was a rare combination of factors that caught meteorologist and residents alike completely off-guard. First, Hurricane Grace had moved up from the Caribbean causing high-surf, but remained well out at sea. In the m e a n - time an o f f s h o r e A t l a n t i c Storm formed, nothing unusual to this point. But then the unthink- able happened. The remnants of Grace col- lided with the storm system unleash- ing powerful northeasterly winds and surging tides the likes of which most residents had never experienced in their lives – this three-headed mon- ster became The Perfect Storm. As any meeting planner will tell you, they've experienced their own Perfect Storm, and yes it caught most people willing to admit it, completely off-guard. Lets start with the hurricane in our story – the global recession. Said to have offi- cially begun in December of 2007, this recession has severely damaged the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (M.I.C.E.) marketplace. Incentives have probably taken the worst beating as companies have sharply reduced or eliminated budgets altogeth- er waiting for prosperous economic times to return. The fear-mongering and scare tactics of our elected officials caused organizations unaffected by bailouts to cut back or cancel events alto- gether, costing our industry billions. The Atlantic storm in our analogy is reduced meeting planner budgets. As the recession took hold most organiza- tions, associations and individuals had less discretionary income and immedi- ately pulled back funding for meetings, conferences and events. I have personally attended about a dozen events over the past 18 months. While I've enjoyed the experience at each event, if you pay close attention the changes are noticeable. Reduction in the number of sponsors, limited meal choic- es and smaller events are just some of my observations in these lean times. The result of these two events leads to the third piece in this three-headed mon- ster, reduced demand. Two hotbeds of convention activity Las Vegas and Orlando are suffering mightily. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports 402 cancellations between October 2008 and March 2009, costing the local economy $166 million, not to mention lost gaming revenues. Living in Las Vegas, I've seen the result- ing personal toll this has taken with tens 36 BY MICHAEL BENNETT

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