Our board of directors, 1,000 members, and staff were incredibly disappointed to read Paul Davies' opinion that set out to sabotage Philadelphia's convention industry ("Big white elephant?," March 6). Unfortunately, as a result of that column, a major convention customer whose business is worth $54 million in spending for the city is now questioning our ability as a convention destination. You can bet that our national competition is just eating up the fact that our hometown newspaper is providing the ammunition to steal this business.
Now, our sales team needs to go back and resell a convention that is already booked when we should be out selling this spectacular new space, its services, and our thriving city to new customers. The sad part is that the people whom this will impact the most are the frontline hotel, restaurant, attraction, and retail workers who rely on the convention industry to put food on their tables. Will the speculative and unfair negativism of The Inquirer cost the city, state, and 56,000 workers the $2.7 billion in expansion business booked to date?