SOUTHERN RHYTHM:“Memphis Beat” draws heavily on its host destination’s unique atmosphere—something that DMO executives in other cities say is priceless. Said NYC & Company’s Christopher Heywood: “It’s sort of the best selling tool we couldask for.”

mento,” Steffens said, “I think that gives another positive impres- sion of the city, becauseit’s such a positiveshow.” For Detroit, there’s simply no downside to “Detroit 1-8-7.”

The production is “spending over $25 million locally this year, they’re putting 4,000-plus room nights in local hotels, and they are giving us thesame big-city exposurethat cop shows have given NewYork, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore, and other places for years,” said Chris Baum, senior vice president of sales andmarketing for the Detroit Metro Convention&Vis- itors Bureau. “Every big city has a homicide squad, so we’re not concerned with that issue.” Added Christopher Heywood, vice president for travel and

tourism public relations for NYC & Company: “It’s sort of the best selling tool we could ask for—for people to experience [New York City] through pop culture and then be motivated to travel.” Even when that pop culture is dark, grimy, and fix- ated on chalk outlines? “If I had a choice, I’d rather people think ofNewYork City [from]watching ‘Sex and the City’ rather than ‘Law & Order,’ but you can’t control that,” Heywood said. “They see the city on television and in the movies, and they’re drawn to it. It’s a uniquemotivator for peopleto translatewhat they see on television into bookings.”

Don’t Touch That Dial Perhaps nowhere is translating TV into bookings as direct and uncomplicated as it is in Los Angeles, whereLAINC. has taken clients to theEmmys and theGrammys, AssociateVicePresi- dent of Communications Carol Martinez said, and to tapings of “The PriceIs Right” and “TheTonight Show.” “Oneof thebig factors is thereality shows,” Martinez said. “Everyone wants to go someplace that’s featured in ‘The Hills,’

CALIFORNIA MIND GAMES: Early episodes of this season’s “The Mentalist” included scenes shot in Sacramento, where the series is based. “That gives another positive impression of the city,” Sacramento CVB’s Lucy Steffens said, “because it’s such a positive show.”

or they want to go to the ‘LA Ink’ tattoo place.” The city can also leverage the business of show business when it comes to staging memorable events. “If you’re trying to do a very inno- vative party,” Martinez said, “because we have all the prop houses and all these great people who work for the entertain- ment industry,wecan comeupwith somevery unusual things.” Indeed, TV shows are most helpful to a destination when

they provide not simply exposure but a sense of cachet. “I think everybody wants to go to a meeting destination that, when you say, ‘We’re going to Miami,’ people say, ‘Ooh, nice!’” Talbert said. “I think that translates on the meeting side. You see those images on TV, and what we all do is keep the buzz going.” What the TV show “Dallas” offered the city of Dallas was

an angle— nothing moreor less—that it can still usetoday, and spin to its advantage. “Everyone knows the Dallas skyline around the world today, and we keep adding to it, so it’s getting bigger and bigger,” Jones said. “[The TV show] provides us an opportunity to say, ‘You probably know Dallas, but what you probably don’t know is that it’s changed in the last 30 years.’” Likewise, themanyTVseries that have been set inNewYork

City are something that NYC&Company can leverage, but they’re only a starting point. “The meeting planner is some- one who sees these shows just as much as the consumer pub- lic does,” Heywood said. “But ultimately someone is going to come to New York City not based on what they saw on the show but [rather on] whatNewYork is—thevibrancy, thecul- ture, all we have to offer. This may help a little bit, but at the end of the day, people are drawn to the experience of a visit to New York.”

Christopher Durso is executive editor of Convene.

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