Afew months ago, President Barack Obama made a comment that companies receiving federal bailout money should not be holding getaways or business meetings in resort destinations. His exact words were, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.”

There was much complaining and lamenting the fact that the president just told people not to come to Las Vegas. Even though that isn’t what he said, Mayor Oscar Goodman demanded an apology, and a number of operators came out to report that they had corporate events cancelled after Obama made the comment.

I was quick to point out on the Casino Connection blog (blog.casinoconnection.com) that Obama didn’t tell people not to come to Las Vegas. I think the comment is pretty clear. The way I interpreted it was that it wouldn’t look good for companies that helped drive the economy into the ground to continue partying it up after they got a little bailout money from you and I via the federal government. It wasn’t Obama saying, “Don’t go to Las Vegas.” He was saying don’t use taxpayer money for lavish getaways. Unfortunately for us, he mentioned Las Vegas by name.

But is there any real question as to why Obama and the majority of the country think that Las Vegas is just a party town? Yes, those of us who live and work here know all about the millions of square feet of meeting and convention space. We know that, mid-week at least, room rates are very reasonable compared to similar-sized cities. And we know that it is usually pretty cheap to fly into McCarran International Airport.

But does the rest of the country? For years, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority advertised Las Vegas as a place where anything goes and where nothing is taken seriously. That whole “What happens here, stays here” mantra was perhaps too successful in creating the image of Las Vegas as a place to party and forget about things like meetings and work and the like. And when times were good, no one was complaining.

But there hasn’t been a lot of advertising or any other attempt to really get it out into the mainstream that Las Vegas is, in fact, a place where serious business can get done. It doesn’t have to be the case that what happens here stays. You can have a very productive company getaway at one of the many fine resorts the city offers. And you can probably do it cheaper than you could in almost any other city in the United States.

That was clearly evidenced after Obama’s comments, when Goldman Sachs decided to cancel its planned event at Mandalay Bay. The banking giant ended up paying a $600,000 cancellation fee to the resort, and then moved its event to San Francisco, which is considerably more expensive than Las Vegas.

And while I, among many others, dismissed the comments as being at worst an accidental jab at Las Vegas, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that there is a de facto ban on federal agencies holding meetings in Las Vegas. The paper had a Department of Justice e-mail that said conferences can’t be held in resort cities, and “Las Vegas and Orlando are the first two on the chopping block.” A DoJ spokeswoman explained that they have a directive to avoid locations that “give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations.” The preferred meeting places, according to the WSJ, included St. Louis, Milwaukee and Denver.

But that doesn’t make any sense at all. In order to look like they’re not spending a lot of money on a lavish conference in a resort destination, these federal agencies are spending considerably more money to hold a conference in a city no one really wants to go to.

Nevada lawmakers are looking into any prohibitions, real or implied, on travel to Las Vegas and asking that any such restrictions be lifted. In the meantime, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the city’s boosters to make an effort to maybe focus on some of the other things Las Vegas has to offer.

The LVCVA and R&R Partners put out an award-winning marketing effort that still has legs today. In many ways, we’re being victimized because of the success of the “What happens here” campaign.

Las Vegas is a fun, anything goes kind of place. And it is also a place where business can and does get done. We’ve focused on advertising only one of those realities, and we’re upset that people aren’t entirely trusting of us now that we try to tout only the other. While those of us who live here know differently, we haven’t made enough of an effort to show the serious side of Las Vegas to the rest of the country. Perhaps now would be a good time to focus on that, and get the message out, not just through soundbites from outraged mayors and governors, but through a concentrated advertising campaign that shows the rest of the country—and the world, for that matter—that you can come to Las Vegas and have fun while still taking care of business, and you can do it cheaper than you can in almost any other city in the country.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.