• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, March 12, 2008

The Governor's Tourism Conference set for May 14-16 in Bolton Landing, N.Y., ought to be a gas.

Following N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer's apology to his family this week for frequenting prostitutes, the May event will be met either with relief that the short (or long) territorial nightmare is over or with frustration that the state has become the butt of endless jokes such as "Well, it gives new meaning to 'I Love New York'" or "They don't call it the Empire State for nothing." The last is a reference to the Emperors Club, which allegedly set up the gubernatorial trysts.

The state Assembly is in the middle of deciding a budget, which will decide how much money goes into the latest "I Love N.Y." effort, resurrected last year by the newly elected governor.

Tourism is a $3 billion business in New York, making it the state's second-largest industry. Most recently, Spitzer proposed increasing state funding of the "I Love New York" effort by $4 million, raising that budget to $24 million. Even so, New York lags behind other states in the dollars spent on marketing and promoting its destinations. Pennsylvania, for example, which competes with New York, has a tourism budget of almost $60 million.

Last year, the Empire State Development Corp. chose Saatchi & Saatchi to run the "I Love New York" ad campaign. At the time, Spitzer had criticized the state's marketing effectiveness, and noting that former Gov. George Pataki was the tourism spokesperson, he said he wouldn't appear in the ads himself.

"I Love New York" ads originated more than 30 years ago.

Silda Wall Spitzer, the governor's wife, co-announced the launch of the 2008 Winter Tourism Campaign. The Empire State Development Corp. did not return a call on Tuesday inquiring about the possible effect of the gubernatorial scandal on tourism advertising.

But one brand guru weighed in with an intriguing thought. Writes Laura Reis, president of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta-based brand consultancy: "Usually, tourism can be affected by all the attention on the place of a dirty deed. Nightclub where a celebrity died. Tunnel where Diana perished. The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. People are morbidly curious about these places.

"The problem with Spitzer is that the hooker went to D.C. If it happened in NYC, it might have helped New York more. Too bad."