Jul. 23, 2003 - KANSAS CITY, Mo.--Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau chief executive Spurgeon Richardson took the helm of the industry's international association Tuesday and pledged a renewed global emphasis. 

"The world is a different place," newly elected chairman Richardson told many of the 750 persons attending the 89th annual gathering of the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus. The group met the past six days in Kansas City. 

Most of the organization's 500 municipal and regional tourism agency members are from the United States. But the group claims representatives from more than 20 nations. 

The outgoing chairman, Rick Antonson, president of the tourism agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, also urged more international outreach efforts. 

"Tourism is a peacekeeper," Antonson said in his parting comments Tuesday morning. "Tourism brings people together and celebrates our differences. Let us work for the day when Palestinians and Israelis and Americans and Cubans exchange travel and are free to travel." 

During Antonson's tenure, the association developed a new code of ethics -- unveiled in Kansas City this week -- and launched research initiatives that next year will help member bureaus better quantify the local economic effects of tourism. 

One study will survey those attending about 500 U.S. conventions in the next several months to determine how much money they spend and produce a national average figure. Consistency is needed in how cities promote the dollar value of events, Richardson aid. 

Another effort is to develop a "return on investment" formula to measure a convention bureau's productivity versus the tax dollars it consumes. "In effect, we are private companies funded by public revenues," Richardson said. 

The ethics code was stiffened and updated to achieve more public accountability, Antonson said. 

"In light of what's happening in the world of business, we would have been remiss if we didn't adopt some standards so people, our community stakeholders, can anticipate our level of conduct." 

Conference delegates participated in dozens of seminars, ranging from the travel impact of SARS to tips on how to "brand" a city and give it a positive visitor reputation. 

Seminars and a business trade shows were all about drumming up new business in an era of travel fears and economic recession. 

Richard Dickieson, president of Chicago-based Private Label Travel, was seeking partners to promote his Amtrak rail vacation packages. Kansas City is one stop along a Midwestern tour route. 

Business this year is just getting back to last year's levels, Dickieson said. "And 2002 wasn't a great year," he said. 

Nationally, tourism is a $555 billion-a-year industry that employs nearly 8 million U.S. workers. Missouri visitors last year left $12.7 billion behind and supported a tourism work force of 243,000. 

Richardson has spent his career in the visitor industry. He is past chairman of the International Association of Amusement Parks and was general manager of a Georgia amusement theme park. 

Antonson lauded Richardson's service the past year on the International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus board and his upbeat approach to problems. 

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(c) 2003, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.