Today's Wall Street Journal reports that government employees are being encouraged to keep their meetings and conventions away from hot resort destinations like Las Vegas, Reno and Orlando.

An employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation wrote an email, viewed by the WSJ, that said the Department of Justice "decided conference[s] are not to be held in cities that are vacation destinations/spa/resort/gambling." As if there were any doubt about which cities sit on that list, the email added, "Las Vegas and Orland[o] are the first 2 on the chopping block." 

Ouch. The travel industry in convention-heavy states like Nevada and Florida is reeling, wondering who will help fill its thousands of hotel rooms and convention space if the government is not.

"We get the sense that these agencies are worried about scrutiny, and in order to avoid criticism from the media they are essentially willing to spend more money and do things that they think will prevent them media scrutiny," Geoff Freeman, of the U.S. Travel Association, told the paper. 

Meanwhile, things are looking up in Milwaukee ... St. Louis ... and Fort Collins, Colo.. These are all cities that a Department of Agriculture employee, interviewed in the story, said were on a white list of destinations circulated internally by the department this spring. "Robust justification" is needed if a meeting is to be okayed for a resort destination, the employee said.

General Services Administration, which sets policy on government per diems, does not prohibit specific locations. But agencies can set their own guidelines.

Vegas, Reno and other fun-loving destinations may be a wasteful-spending story in the making for government agencies that aren't careful, these convention meccas can often be more cost-effective locales for meetings than ... St. Louis for instance. Big hotels in a big destination can also mean steep discounts. So while there may be merit in being more judicious with federal dollars, let's hope that it is cost-effectiveness that is driving the travel planning, and not just a knee-jerk approach to avoiding bad publicity. 

After all, there are plenty of ways for government officials to gin up bad press right at home. Or in a safe place like Minneapolis. Paging Sen. Craig!