The negative consequences of President Obama’s campaign to cast business and business execs as the enemy are very, very real. Hawaii’s governor, Linda Lingle, has had enough of it. Her state is suffering from a big drop in business travel, not just from the economic turmoil, but because companies are afraid of the potential angry backlash. From the LA Times:
In a letter to Obama last month, Gov. Linda Lingle and 95 government leaders, business owners and tourism officials urged the president to block any policies that would limit business travel in the future.
Lingle said that since Jan. 1, 132 meetings and business trips had been canceled for this year and next, representing a loss of 87,003 room nights. The cancellations amount to losses of $58.8 million in direct revenue and 694 full- and part-time jobs in the state’s tourism industry, according to the letter.
“In this period of economic downturn when our government and businesses are striving to restore economic stability, the last thing we should do is implement policies or encourage behavior that jeopardizes any industry,” the governor wrote.
Policies – and words – do have consequences.
Marcia Wienert, the governor’s tourism liaison, said Hawaii’s tourism industry has been hurt by companies that have not accepted government money but canceled trips for fear of a negative perception.
“Those are the residual effects that were unintended but are having huge impacts on our economy,” she said.
