USA – A city-wide medical conference hummed along in New Orleans where tourism officials predicted that an oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico would not interrupt activities.
Around 15,000 attendees were registered for Digestive Disease Week 1-5 May at the New Orleans Ernest N Morial Convention Center. The facility is located several miles from the coastline.
Convention centres elsewhere on the Gulf Coast were also open for business despite the slick. The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Centre in Biloxi welcomed the Southern Gaming Summit/Bingoworld on 5 May.
Space at the Arthur R Outlaw Mobile Convention Centre in Mobile was being used as a command post for the area by the US Coast Guard, British Petroleum and various agencies. No large events were on the centre’s calendar for the near future.
