"Arizona took another hit Wednesday as Republicans cast a vote for the home of their 2012 convention. Phoenix made the short list but lost out to Tampa.
It was little surprise to tourism officials in Arizona. Since the state passed the nation's toughest immigration law three weeks ago, its meeting and events business has fallen drastically.
Hispanic civil rights groups are boycotting Arizona and urging others to do the same...
The city risks losing as much as $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years because of the controversy, according to city estimates released Wednesday. The state's hotel and lodging association has counted 23 canceled meetings for a loss of between $6 and $10 million...
(Gov. Jan Brewer) has also pushed back against the boycott, particularly the call for Major League Baseball to pull the 2011 All-Star game out of the state.
MLB owners, who have not commented on the boycott, begin a two-day quarterly meeting in New York this week. No major action items are on the agenda, but advocates of the boycott hope it will be discussed...
Arizona and Brewer further irritated Hispanic groups Tuesday night by signing into law a bill that restricts the teaching of ethnic studies classes in public schools. " (READ MORE)
5.12.2010
WaPost: Arizona Tourism Loses More Business
–via Washington Post