The state's tourism industry has come up with the answer to fighting the boycotts in the wake of the new immigration law: better public relations.
In a report released Wednesday, the Governor's Tourism and Economic Development Task Force said there's no need to "reposition" Arizona's brand and image. That was one of the questions the governor gave the group to study following a sharp drop-off of business.
But what the group found is necessary is convincing people - and especially groups that book conventions - that it is safe to come to Arizona, that they won't be kidnapped and they won't be forced to produce identification or face deportation.
To that end, the task force wants a fact sheet to "clarify facts and misconceptions" about SB 1070. And the report says a public relations specialist needs to be hired - using $250,000 in public funds and $30,000 from the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association - to take that message to select markets, including major U.S. cities as well as Mexico and elsewhere.
But Kristen Jarnagin, spokeswoman for the hotel group, said that message is being undermined by public officials explaining why Arizona needs to crack down on illegal immigration.
"The information that we're giving to support 1070 in our state is that there's massive crime happening here and (we're the) kidnapping capital," Jarnagin said. "And those don't help tourism, either."
That includes Gov. Jan Brewer who has talked openly about crime she said is linked to illegal immigrants. "They're coming here and they're bringing drugs and they're doing drop houses and they're extorting people and they're terrorizing the families," the governor said in a debate earlier this month.
The report comes as the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday issued an advisory about traveling to Arizona for the upcoming July 4 weekend.
Alessandra Meetze, president of the Arizona chapter, said affiliates from 32 states are not telling people to stay away. What they are doing, she said, is telling those who intend to travel to Arizona they need to be informed of their rights.
"They should know the political realities on the ground and the social realities on the ground," she said. "They should know that we have a state with a long history of profiling."
She also said her office has been getting an increasing number of complaints from people believe they are being targeted by police and asked for additional identification, even though SB 1070 does not take effect until July 29.
The law requires police to question those they have stopped about their immigration status if there is "reasonable cause" to believe they are in this country illegally. It also allows police to charge illegal immigrants with violating state trespassing laws.
State Tourism Director Sherry Henry said she won't respond to the advisory. Instead, she said the job of her agency - as well as the recommendations of the task force on which she served - is to instead "tell the positive message" that "Arizona is still all the wonderful things it's always been."
That, however, remains an ongoing problem in the wake of the new immigration law.
Jarnagin said the decisions by lawmakers to pass the bill and the governor to sign it has affected not so much individual decisions to vacation in Arizona but choices that organizations make when deciding where to book their next meeting or convention.
Initially, Jarnagin said, the cancellations were from groups wanting to take a stand against SB 1070.
"But what we're hearing now, moving forward, is a lot of the meetings are bypassing Arizona because they just don't want to be associated with the controversy," Jarnagin said. "If you're going to book a meeting in the next year or two, three years, you want to have every possible thing on your side to get people to attend your meetings." Jarnagin said SB 1070 - or at least the attention being paid to that - convinces meeting planners it would be just as easy to go somewhere else.
She said the purpose of the new campaign is to dispel all that.
For example, Jarnagin said one goal will be to show those who plan meetings that the groups which have decided to come to Arizona anyway have not seen a drop in attendance. But she said it ultimately will come down to dispelling the image of Arizona as an unsafe place to be.
"We are not all hateful people. We are a friendly state," she said. "You're not going to be unnecessarily harassed when you come here. You're not going to be stopped as a visitor for the color of your skin and deported ... for no reason, on a whim."
And there needs to be a distinction for would-be visitors about crime related to illegal immigration and crime overall, like the state's reputation for having more kidnappings than anywhere else.
"People in Canada don't understand that if you're not part of the drug cartel, you're OK," she said. "We're talking about drop houses which you're not going to be encountered with if you're visiting one of our lovely resorts."
forkedlift1 posted at 10:32 am on Thu, Jul 1, 2010.
Well, there you go MR666, right in there with the governor conveying the message that Arizona is a very dangerous place to visit and live. It rather defeats the purpose of the state's beleaguered tourism bureau trying to sell the state as one that IS safe.
Masterrogue666 posted at 9:34 pm on Wed, Jun 30, 2010.
There is danger. Doubt me, ask the 3 families that had the misfortune of having the "Chandler Rapist" pay a visit.
Visitors to most hotels/motels will be safe, unless it's on Main St in Mesa....
DataMan posted at 6:40 pm on Wed, Jun 30, 2010.
Maybe if Brewer didn't keep going on cable news and talking about how AZ is in a state of lawlessness, with illegals selling drugs on all corners and be-headings being a regular thing, people might want to create jobs here or vacation in AZ.
What do you think Jan? Will you pay me as a consultant helping AZ's image now?
forkedlift1 posted at 5:45 pm on Wed, Jun 30, 2010.
Do my eyes deceive me?
Our governor who has been scaring the bejeebees out of everyone, telling the world that there are drop houses everywhere, that drug and human smugglers are pouring through our porous border with Mexico, that the "majority" of "trespassers" coming across the border from Mexico are not coming here to work, but are involved in drug smuggling, that we're the kidnapping capitol of the world, and generally that Arizona is a VERY unsafe place to live because of our common border with Mexico, that sealing that border with armed troops, impermeable fences, and God knows what else is of critical importance, now, for our safety and protection from the Mexican criminal element that has made Arizona a very dangerous state in which to live.
Concerned out-of-state relatives and friends are contacting us who live here to inquire about our welfare. "What is happening in Arizona? Are you okay?"
It's not enough that SB 1070, the enforcement procedures of which she advocates to the utmost, requires every law enforcement officer in the state during any lawful "stop" to inquire about and determine a person's "immigration status" when he has reasonable suspicion that a person is unlawfully present in the country.
With this condition of the state of Arizona, do YOUR friends, associates and relatives with an out-of-state drivers license want to visit here? Even if they're not of Latino heritage which this new "ethnic cleansing" law targets.
Now she's urging the aide of a public relations firm to sell the state as a good place to visit which "could include editorials."
And most telling, "to help manage the existing dialogue." MANAGE the existing DIALOGUE??
How??
"Clarify the facts"? Which "facts"? How? By denying the facts written into SB 1070 exist? And yes, Jan, there's probably not a lawyer in this country who hasn't read Arizona's new law and knows full well what those "facts" are.
Or have those "facts" about the majority of trespassers coming into Arizona from our southern border with Mexico changed?
What's the story going to be tomorrow?