Here's a footnote from the law of unintended consequences:
Companies receiving federal bailout funds are canceling travel meetings and moving conferences away from pricey hot spots, and it could cause the tourism industry to need a bailout of its own as resorts lose business and hotel rooms go vacant.
Morgan Stanley recently canceled a trip to Monte Carolo for its VIP financial advisers. And Goldman Sachs has moved a three-day technology conference off the Las Vegas Strip to the more economical San Francisco Marriott.
Both companies, which received at least $10 billion in federal bailout funds, are among a growing list of businesses that have accepted federal Troubled Assets Relief Program funds and are now terrified to overspend on corporate travel.
"In light of the current environment, we've reviewed a broad range of Goldman Sachs activities," a company spokeswoman said. "This led us to conclude that we should relocate the conference. The decision was based on our best efforts to operate according to the requirements of the new landscape of our industry."
It's bad news for the already slumping travel industry, which is expecting to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs in the coming year. Meetings and events make up 15 percent of all travel-related spending, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
Further compounding the problem is lawmakers' disapproval of corporate travel.
During an Indiana town hall meeting on Monday, President Barack Obama criticized floundering companies for taking plush business trips on taxpayer money.
"You can't take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime," Obama said.
In the Senate, Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) slipped a provision into the federal stimulus package that would require the Treasury Department to define what excessive and luxurious travel might be for those companies receiving bailouts.
In the meantime, though, the Travel Association says even companies that aren't receiving bailouts are canceling trips to avoid any bad publicity.
"Congress has gone down a dangerous path to allow the government to become a corporate travel manager," said Travel Association senior vice president Geoff Freeman. "We have companies that haven't taken government funds canceling events for fear of bad media coverage. This is going to cost the industry jobs. It's anti-stimulus."
The travel group, which represents all aspects of the $740 billion travel industry is rushing to Capitol Hill, asking members to embrace defining guidelines the group drew up this week for companies receiving emergency funds.
The plan requires companies to keep events under $75,000 and must serve a legitimate business purpose. Other rules require companies to keep their annual event and travel expenses under 15 percent of their total annual sales and marketing costs.
"We need Congress to demand accountability and demand transparency," Freeman said. "If they embrace this plan, it will put all the pressure on the companies to regulate their own meeting and events."
And while the government has yet to step in, the media have. Travel industry association members report that journalists are regularly monitoring conference room reservations in hotels across the country in search of wasteful spending.
But in the end, experts say the ultimate victims of the corporate travel crunch will be low-to-middle class tourism industry workers, including resort hotel employees and restaurant servers.
According to the Labor Department, the tourism industry lost 200,000 jobs last year. And the Commerce Department projects the industry will lose another 247,000 this year.
