More companies meet virtually as conventions canceled

— -- Recessionary times have forced a wave of cancellations of conventions and business meetings around the country, costing local economies billions in lost visitor dollars since fall.

Among the hardest hit are convention meccas Las Vegas and Orlando, the top two destinations for business events, respectively.

•Las Vegas has seen 402 conventions and meetings canceled from October to mid-March at a cost of $166 million to the local economy, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority reports. That doesn't include lost gambling revenue.

•Orlando has had 114 meetings scheduled for this year canceled as of late last month. The Orlando Convention & Visitors Bureau says the local economy will lose $26 million from the cancellations, with about 146,000 room nights at hotels lost.

Other cities have been hit, too. Attendance at major conventions in Atlanta is down 20% since October, and the number of business travelers for smaller meetings has been cut in half, says Lauren Jarrell of the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau.

In addition to the recession, convention industry executives blame cancellations on businesses not wanting to look like they're splurging when share prices are down, they're laying off people or being bailed out by taxpayers.

"A double whammy has come down," says Geoff Freeman of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group. "There's no doubt that all types of business travel are paying a heavy price, but meetings and events are paying the heaviest price."

Instead of traveling, many associations and companies have turned to "virtual" conventions or "Webinars," in which attendees meet via Internet hookup without leaving their offices or homes.

That's what about 500 members of the American Society of News Editors are doing instead of gathering in Chicago this month.

Hotels in the USA lost more than $1 billion in the first two months of the year from event and meeting cancellations, the travel association estimates.

The dollar loss to local economies is greater when lost spending on meeting hall space, car rentals, restaurants and local attractions is rolled in.