SB1070 Update: Phoenix may lose $90 million

by David Safier

Here are excerpts from a Republic article saying Phoenix could lose $90 million due to SB1070.

Metropolitan Phoenix, which already has suffered convention cancellations because of Arizona's new immigration law, 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.

[snip]

Phoenix city and tourism officials have compiled a "watch list" of about 20 events, said David Krietor, a deputy city manager tracking the issue.

The list consists of four organizations that have canceled events and more than a dozen others that have booked events but have expressed concerns about the new law.

[snip]

"We have an image and public-relations problem of what might be unprecedented proportions," Krietor said.

[snip]

The $90 million figure represents the estimated amount that those groups' members would spend in the region. Some events are scheduled this year. Others are booked as far out as 2015.

People who attend Phoenix Convention Center events alone spend about $350 million each year, officials have said.

The Accidental Guv says she plans to stick by her guns, come what may.

Gov. Jan Brewer emphasized . . . that Arizona won't back away from its tough new law aimed at illegal immigrants even if boycotts take business from the state.

After all what's a mere $90 million — just in the Phoenix area — when we have an ideology to protect?

(h/t to Poco Bravo for the catch.)

MORE: According to a Wall Street Journal blog:

Meantime, some cities see the boycott as an economic opportunity. The law has helped Denver book new conventions while Santa Fe, N.M. is promoting its status as a “sanctuary city” — police there can’t arrest people based on their immigration status.

Denver and Santa Fe, it's time to say "Thank you, Arizona."