Molly C. Marsh, CMP, director of education and engagement design at AMR Management Services in Lexington, Ky., believes the impact of controversies over women’s reproductive rights, gay marriage and transgender bathrooms will be felt in the meeting industry for years to come.

Her association management firm mainly represents state governments and healthcare organizations.

“They have issues they take stands on,” Marsh says. “Right now, those organizations are taking those issues into consideration when looking at contracts two, three or four years out.”

While Marsh (MPI Kentucky Bluegrass Chapter) has not had any clients cancel a contract because of a state’s law on a specific issue, she finds they do give serious thought to how hospitable a given state will be to their members and their views.

If some feel state laws will keep potential attendees from traveling to an event, it’s not unusual for state associations to say, “We can’t afford it if no one is going to show up,” and also to point out that an issue is important to both them and their members.

Marsh is not alone in finding that social issues continue to impact destination selection. It was a key trend that emerged in the most recent Meetings Outlook survey.

One respondent, for instance, predicted that locations that restrict the reproductive rights of women could lose business. Although 52 percent said they don’t consider whether a location restricts the reproductive rights of women in meeting selection, a significant 44 percent of respondents said they are less likely to select such a destination. Only 5 percent said they were more likely to do so.

“I think women’s rights will be a huge factor, if the bathroom bill was any indicator,” commented one respondent, who chose to remain anonymous and self-identified as “much less likely” to book at a destination the restricts the reproductive rights of women. “Clients will continue to use their buying power…as social commentary.”

Interestingly, despite controversies over marijuana legalization, the vast majority of respondents (81 percent) said that legalization of cannabis does not affect destination selection one way or another (only 8 percent said they were less likely to choose a destination where cannabis use is legal, while 10 percent said they were more likely).

The impact of social issues on destination selection is just one of the intriguing elements of the latest Meetings Outlook report. Read the newest edition of MPI’s quarterly report to discover current and future challenges of greening events, employment and market trends and more.