In the past month, more than 30,000 hotel room nights booked for conventions and business meetings were canceled, costing the city an estimated 20 million dollars in revenue, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

That hurts for a town that saw a 4.4-percent drop in visitor numbers in 2008 compared to 2007 and a decline of 5.8 percent in the number of conventions held here over the same period.

Visitor numbers were down 11 percent in December alone versus December 2007.

All of that and a recent reference to Las Vegas in a speech by President Barack Obama in a warning that companies ought to use federal government money wisely, has made many here frightened that the business travel market could be nearing a collapse similar to that already felt here in the leisure market.

"Las Vegas has long tried to balance the image of party town, serious town," said Jan Jones, senior vice president for Harrah's Entertainment, which saw a 30-percent decline in convention business in January versus January 2008 at its seven Strip resorts.

"This is an opportunity for us to remind business why they do business here, and it's because it's the best value."

While the corporate meetings market is traditionally softer during recessions, there are signs that some slippage is due to companies trying to avoid the appearance that they're partying during the downturn.

An annual technology conference for the investment house Goldman Sachs scheduled for later this month at the Mandalay Bay Hotel-Casino, for instance, was moved to a hotel in San Francisco.

The company still had to pay the Vegas resort a 600,000-dollar cancellation fee.

"We thought it would be a harder sell for our members to get approval" for a Las Vegas event right now, said Darren Green, vice president of the Automotive Market Research Council, an auto industry analyssis group that canceled a March conference at the Planet Hollywood Hotel-Casino.

Green also said it was a cost-cutting measure to call off the event.

The matter hit fever pitch on February 9 when President Obama told an audience in the US state of Indiana that companies "can't go take a trip to Las Vegas -- on the taxpayer's dime."

While the remark seemed to be referencing a planned junket canceled by banking bailout recipient Wells Fargo, it was taken by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman as an attack on holding any business meetings here.

"People are telling me that they're not coming to Las Vegas because the president doesn't want them to," said Goodman, who first demanded a White House apology but later said he just wanted a clarification.

"There's an impression out there that somehow if you come to Las Vegas, it's going to reflect on your business culture and that's a bunch of hooey."

The Las Vegas convention bureau is about to unleash a new ad campaign to "reinforce the fact that you can get serious business done in Las Vegas and it's a great value," spokesman Vince Alberta said.

The Goldman Sachs cancellation angered many here most. The company, which received bailout money last year, issued a statement insisting the decision was "based on our best efforts to operate according to the requirements of the new landscape of our industry."

But Jones suggested it was a costly decision made more for image than economics.

"There's no way that that ended up less money, and if the issue is really a responsible use of taxpayer dollars, doesn't that mean you look for the best value which is the lowest price?" asked Jones, who is also Goodman's predecessor as Las Vegas mayor.

Competing convention cities are pouncing. Mark Theis, executive vice-president for the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, said he plans to remind meeting planners that "people aren't going to raise their eyebrows" about a company holding an event in the Windy City.

"They've played on flash and the fact that it's a surreal destination for years, so for them to think now that that wouldn't resonate is almost saying their campaign hasn't worked," Theis said.