Thursday, April 30, 1998 | 10:36 a.m.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's convention sales team will attempt to recruit groups that have decided to boycott California over a new state smoking ban.
Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the LVCVA, said he would pass along leads to his 12-person sales staff that drums up meetings, conventions and trade shows for Southern Nevada.
Ralenkotter said the size of the group and the availability of a venue are key elements toward determining whether organizations that had planned to meet in California could be persuaded to move to Las Vegas instead.
Earlier this week, the 80-member board of directors of the National Licensed Beverage Association voted unanimously in Washington to cancel an August meeting in San Diego over a ban on smoking. Association officials said they also will urge other hospitality industries to boycott the state.
That gives the LVCVA staff a chance to go after conventioneers, who will undoubtedly hear how smoker-friendly Las Vegas is. Nevada lawmakers have balked at approving tough antismoking legislation, primarily because the casino industry doesn't favor such a ban. While some casinos have a few smoke-free tables, cigarettes and cigars are commonplace in the city's gambling halls.
California's ban on smoking in bars kicked in at midnight Jan. 1. Supporters say it protects patrons and employees from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
Even before it took effect, however, the ban has been the target of legislation to abolish or weaken it. The latest legislative effort would allow smoking in select bars if employees agree. A hearing on the measure is scheduled for early May.
Ralenkotter explained that his sales representatives keep track of organizations that plan their meetings on a rotating basis. Representatives are regularly contacted to make sure they're kept up to date on the availability of meeting halls and changes in Las Vegas that could have a positive impact on groups meeting.
Many of the leads generated by the sales staff are turned over to resorts, which are offered the opportunity to book meetings and lodging for convention participants.
Ralenkotter said Las Vegas has developed itself into the premiere convention and tourist destination in the United States and that attendance is usually higher at shows staged in Las Vegas, according to LVCVA statistics.
About 3,800 conventions are booked in Las Vegas each year, the majority of them being gatherings of less than 1,500 delegates.
With offices in Washington and Chicago to help make contact with various organizations, the LVCVA keeps a database to determine the needs of groups considering Las Vegas for their meetings. Communicating by fax, the agency can seal a deal quickly if there's availability when the group wants to meet.
In the case of the beverage association, Ralenkotter said he would turn leads over to his staff right away to make contact and determine if the group wants to stay close to the West Coast.
In the meantime, the association expressed its displeasure with California.
"The bars in California have been raped and stripped of what they do well, and that's hospitality," Beverly Swanson, Pacific vice president of the beverage association, said standing in front of a white-on-black "Boycott California!" banner in a hotel meeting room hazy with tobacco smoke. "We are united as an industry."
Speakers said the boycott shows their moral support for California businesses affected by the ban, and of efforts to repeal it. Underlying their comments, however, was fear that others states might pass similar laws.
"This thing is scary to us," said Phil Craig, of the beverage association's Ohio chapter. "It could go national."
With more than 16,000 members, the Virginia-based National Licensed Beverage Association is the largest trade association for beverage retailers.
"This industry is a reasonable industry," said Stephen Zolezzi of the Food and Beverage Association of San Diego County.
Tobacco critics scoffed at the beverage association's announcement.
"We think the National Licensed Beverage Association is out of step with the California public and all the bar patrons who overwhelmingly support smoke-free bars in California," said Tony Najera, vice president of governmental affairs for the American Lung Association's Sacramento office.
Najera also dismissed the boycott's economic impact. "There's no shortage of groups who want to hold conferences in California," he said.
While smoking policies are keeping some meetings out of California, does the presence of gaming discourage some groups from meeting in Las Vegas?
"Not as much as you might think," Ralenkotter said. "Take a look at our list of groups meeting here annually. It's a diverse group of associations and organizations."
Ralenkotter said Las Vegas had played host to religious organizations like the Baptists, medical groups, education groups, government meetings and others that conventional wisdom would suggest would tend to avoid the casino capital.
"We've evolved into a full-service resort city," Ralenkotter said. "Now that gaming has spread across the country, many organizations are more familiar with it and aren't put off by coming here."
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS contributed to this report.
archive
