Arizona immigration law could send business to Denver

Colorado and other states may land extra convention trade — and perhaps even businesses — in the wake of Arizona's controversial new anti-illegal-immigration law.

"Yes, we've had some calls from two to three groups so far," said Richard Scharf, president and chief executive of the Denver convention and visitor bureau.

The largest is a 2,000-person convention. Visit Denver is "not out prospecting the groups" for business, he said.

But Scharf also said the inquiries are not unexpected.

Colorado lost an estimated $100 million in business to boycotts between November 1992, when voters passed Amendment 2 — which prohibited laws to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination — and May

1996, when the law was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Scharf said.

Scharf said he heard earlier this week from his Arizona counterpart, who said he had gotten about 200 calls from groups that want to cancel planned meetings.

But if there are groups pulling out of Arizona, Scharf said there will be some that will meet there in support of the law.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association won't be among them. Within minutes of the governor's signing of the law, the association notified the Scottsdale Marriott Hotel that it would not be holding its convention of 300 to 400 people there in September.

Crystal Williams, who serves on the Washington, D.C.-based association's convention committee, called the decision to move the convention "a no-brainer."

She said the group is being "inundated by marketing people all over the country, including a couple in Colorado."

Since conventions and conferences are frequently held at hotels, Scharf said hotel chains will work to keep a group's business by finding a sister facility in another area.

Calls to several downtown Denver hotels to see whether meetings were being moved here were not returned.

While it's relatively simple to move a meeting, it's more difficult to move a business.

Companies that don't have a specific customer base "will make this decision much more deliberately," awaiting court tests of the law and assessing its impact before deciding to move or stay, said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

"Conventions, however, tend to be hot reactors," he said.

Reported by:  Denver Post