Chilean Interior Minister Dr. Jose Miguel Insulza - REUTERS
ON THE surface, when the Organisation of American States (OAS) convenes its General Assembly at the Broward County Convention Centre on June 5, the product generated will be lots and lots of words. Picture 600 diplomats talking for three days about democracy.
But there will be some dollars spent, too.
Even a diplomat needs a bed, a ride and a bite to eat between speeches. Diplomats' spouses and families might want to shop. And if President Bush and his travel party show up to kick off the discussion, hotels could get a windfall of White House spending.
The three-day event could fill 2,100 to 3,000 hotel rooms in a slow travel month in South Florida and pump at least US$15 million into the economy.
That's nice, but not the real story, according to tourism promoters. After all, when the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors sets up at the convention centre June 8 after the diplomats leave, it expects to bring 2,500 attendees.
That's more than the OAS meeting, unless the president comes.
But to the hospitality industry, the OAS meeting isn't just another convention. It is a group of ultra-influentials, a category that also embraces event planners and tour operators. Tourism promoters say they matter because they can bring large numbers of other people to the destination for years after their conference has been gaveled to a close.
A POSITIVE
"When you aspire to be a global player, anytime you can get an Organisation of American States and the leadership they bring, it's a positive for your community," said Bill Howard, spokesman for the visitors bureau in Atlanta, where the OAS held its last U.S. meeting in 1974.
"It's an opportunity to have an audience with people who are decision-makers, who can affect investments," Howard said.
The meeting will also bring media from around the hemisphere and link Fort Lauderdale's name, for a while at least, with diplomacy instead of daiquiris.
But the main chance is to bring people like Celoso Amorim to South Florida, to see a city that Condé Nast Traveler magazine this month described as "almost unimaginably chic."
Amorim is the foreign minister of Brazil, a country with a $1.5 trillion economy that sent about 385,000 tourists to the United States in 2004. And he's only one of 33 foreign ministers expected, including those from Mexico, Canada and Colombia.
