Business Notes

When the Southern Christian Leadership Conference failed to persuade the Dallas city council to stop opposing a plan for increased minority representation, the local chapter resorted to tougher methods: it mounted a boycott last week to deter tourists and conventions from coming to the city. The strategy, though hardly new, is gaining in popularity. Increasingly, national groups and associations have sought to punish and pressure cities by moving their conventions and meetings elsewhere.

The city of Phoenix has lost some 60 gatherings, worth $37 million, following last November's rejection of a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by Arizona voters. Miami is still suffering from a boycott by blacks incensed over the city's snubbing last summer of Nelson Mandela. Economic damage to date: $5.4 million. When the San Francisco board of supervisors declared the city a sanctuary for Persian Gulf war resisters, it drew bitter complaints from hundreds of angry convention managers and tourists. The controversial tactic seems to be having some effect. Faced with the possible loss of the Super Bowl in 1993, the Arizona legislature last week agreed to put the King holiday back on the election ballot in 1992.