Some Conferences Steer Away From Florida, Citing State’s Divisive Laws

DeSantis has pushed laws that ban people from entering public bathrooms other than ones designated for their sex assigned at birth, ban gender-affirming medical care and ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. 

Though it isn’t clear whether the cancellations will have any major impact on Florida’s growing economy, they suggest politics are playing a larger role in how organizers think about such events—from where they choose to host them, to what type of programming they include. 

“For many of these groups, their core values suggest that they don’t align with what they hear out of leadership in Tallahassee, so they go someplace else,” says

Stacy Ritter,
formerly a Democratic elected official and now chief executive of Visit Lauderdale, the tourism marketing agency for Broward County, Fla.

A spokesman for DeSantis said the withdrawals are “nothing more than a stunt.” He said Florida recorded a record number of visitors in the first quarter of 2023 and noted census data shows Florida is the fastest-growing state.

Three events have relocated from Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center, and a fourth ditched its plans to hold a Game of Thrones fan convention at an area hotel. Tourism officials there say they regularly field questions and concerned calls from event organizers, especially after civil-rights groups including the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Equality Florida, a gay-rights advocacy group, issued travel advisories this spring.

Local officials said more than half a dozen events have bailed on Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, a loss of more than $20 million in hotel bookings, transportation, food and more.

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning moved its fall conference out of Miami, citing concerns over travel to Florida.

Planners typically choose cities—rather than states—based on event space, hotel-room inventory, travel convenience, amenities and attractions, says

Jim Abramson,
vice president of product management of Cvent, an event-software company. And those still appear to be the major driving factors.

“These political actions aren’t having an impact on event booking overall,” Abramson said, citing Cvent’s data that shows booking inquiries by event planners sent to venues in places like Orlando.

Several event trackers say Las Vegas has the highest number of events and trade shows in the country. Orlando consistently ranks in the top three for number of convention attendees and hotel rooms booked, they say.

Orange County tourist-tax collections decreased in May compared with a year ago, according to a comptroller report.

Casandra Matej,
chief executive of Visit Orlando, said the convention hotel business saw some weakness in May but looked strong the rest of the summer.

Many large events are booked years in advance, complicating decisions to about-face.

In June, organizers moved the National Society of Black Engineers 50th annual convention, slated for 2024, to Atlanta from Orlando. For months, group members had tracked a law that blocked public colleges from using government funding on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Organizers spoke with the NAACP in recent months, ultimately deciding the political climate in Florida undermined the group’s mission to “increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers.” 

Janeen Uzzell,
the group’s chief executive officer, said the nonprofit organization has already paid around $1 million toward the Orlando convention, which is nonrefundable and includes payments for the convention space and for hotel rooms. “We agreed that even with the hit, this would be the right decision to make,” she says.

Exhibitors and actors set to take part in a “Game of Thrones” fan convention withdrew from a planned Orlando conference in recent months, said

Melissa Anelli,

CEO of Mischief Management, which puts on the event. Organizers struggled to sell tickets and canceled it after hearing repeated concerns from attendees over the event location, she said.

Organizers of the Global Surgical Conference and Expo moved their 2027 event—expected to draw 7,000 people—from Orlando to Philadelphia. Tourism officials in Orlando say the group cited concerns over recent legislation. A spokeswoman for the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, which puts on the event, said conference locations are based on a variety of factors.

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Some members of Avixa, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, had expressed concern about hosting its InfoComm trade show in Orlando this year. The association decided to stay in the city, which it said shared its values, and support local workers in Orange County,

David Labuskes,
the association’s CEO, said in an email. Labuskes said the June conference saw higher attendance than the one in Vegas last year.

Several hundred people have signed a petition to boycott the coming International Coaching Federation conference in Orlando.

Vernice Jones,
a consultant and director at Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership, says she won’t attend.

As an African-American woman, Jones says, she can’t support an event in Florida.

“This legislation is a war on our collective humanity,” she said, listing some of Florida’s new laws, including on abortion. In an email, LaKisha Brooks, a director for the coaching federation, said the organization values its members’ opinions and plans to offer a virtual option for those who don’t want to be in Florida.

Ritter, the Visit Lauderdale CEO, said groups make up about a quarter of Broward County’s tourism business—a critical chunk for hotels because of the guaranteed revenue years in advance. 

“Our calling is to keep people employed,” she said. “We worry about that consequence more than anything.”

Write to Allison Pohle at allison.pohle@wsj.com