Tourism, convention industries fear police-beating video impact: incident may harm image of city and hurt business.

Tourism, convention industries fear police-beating video impact

The long-suffering tourism and convention industries, already hurting from the city's image problem, reeled further last week when videotape of Los Angeles police officers beating a prostrate man was flashed on television screens around the country.

"People who have seen the video have called and said they don't want to come to Los Angeles because of it," said Michael Collins, vice president of public affairs at the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce officials said in two days they received 100 calls about the incident, mostly from people outside of the Los Angeles area.

"The calls have been from all over the country. We even had one from England. People have asked how we could condone this type of thing, that Police Chief Daryl Gates should resign and that they are canceling their trips to Los Angeles," said chamber spokeswoman Susan Pasternak.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Tom Bradley said the city has been inundated with calls from people around the country who have seen the video, which has been shown on network news programs.

The spokeswoman, Vallee Bunting, declined to comment on the content of the calls or whether people have said they would not be visiting Los Angeles out of fear of police brutality or as a form of boycott or protest of the act.

Though Collins said the bureau is concerned about the reaction to the video, other members of the tourist industry downplayed its impact.

William Lucas, managing director of downtown Westin Bonaventure Hotel, said, "It certainly doesn't help (tourism) and the video is certainly very upsetting in a moralistic way but I don't think it's really going to affect tourism. I think it's a bit of a stretch to say people will stay away from Los Angeles because of it."

But others said the video is one more negative image for the city, which already has been pegged by many potential tourists and conventioneers as crime ridden, too expensive, drug infested, clogged with traffic and polluted.

Tourism and convention business in Los Angeles has been declining for some time for a variety of reasons, including the recession. But tourism officials have said that part of the problem is the city's negative image among potential visitors.

Ray Remy, president of the chamber of commerce, said so far civic and tourism industry leaders are not pressing the mayor's office for a quick and decisive resolution to the matter. "We are confident that the process will work and it will be handled effectively by the mayor and the police commission," said Remy.

Bradley's office declined to comment on what the video does to the city's image or whether the mayor, who has traveled abroad promoting Los Angeles as a tourism destination, is concerned about leisure visitors and conventioneers staying away because of the incident.

Collins said he did not know of any associations or trade groups that are reconsidering holding their meetings or conventions in Los Angeles because of the beating by several officers of 25-year-old Rodney King, a 25-year-old black man from Altadena, early in the morning of March 3. In the video, King is offering no resistance and the police officers are ganged up in their assault on him, which was videotaped by a nearby amateur photographer.

This coming August, up to 40,000 members of the black Shriners association, formerly known as the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles/Mystic Shrine are scheduled to hold their annual convention in Los Angeles. The head of the group was unavailable but a representative of the organization said it would probably be difficult to cancel the meeting now because so many contracts have been signed with various companies and agencies.

The representative of the association, which is based in Los Angeles, did not know if organization officers were discussing the incident or whether members have expressed concern about the convention site.

Collins, who was formerly with the convention bureau in Miami, Fla., said he is all too familiar with what incidents such as the beating could do to a city's image and its tourism industry.

"We can't change what happened but right now I think it's very important for the city to get this resolved in a forthright and open manner so we can get back to pointing out the positive aspects and strengths of the city," he said.