Joyce M. Rosenberg

Associated Press

Small businesses in North Carolina are losing valuable business because of the new state law limiting protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Companies that cater to travelers from out of state are already feeling the effect from canceled events or are seeing a drop in inquiries. The Raleigh area will lose an estimated $3.5 million because of four conferences canceled or scaled back since the state Legislature passed the bill March 23, according to the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, and more events might also be canceled.

Travel is a big industry in North Carolina, bringing in more than $21 billion in revenue last year.

Some business owners are trying to find ways to replace lost revenue. Others are concerned about being able to recruit out-of-state workers

Inquiries about Jamie Gilpin’s Asheville-area bicycle tours are down about a third since the law was passed. The tours take cyclists to places like the Blue Ridge Mountains, waterfalls and breweries.

The falloff in interest was a surprise to Gilpin, owner of Outfitter Bicycle Tours, based in Hendersonville. Facebook ads about the tours drew angry comments, with some people calling for a boycott of the state.

“We started getting comments like, ‘We’ll never come your way.’ It was kind of a shock to me,” Gilpin says. He stopped running the Asheville ads on social media, deciding to instead promote tours to California, France and Italy.

The law prohibits local ordinances that protect the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and excludes them from state employment and public accommodation protections. Since its passage, big corporations including online payments company PayPal and entertainment conglomerate Lionsgate canceled plans to do business in the state.

Rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam canceled concerts, which meant a drop in business for hotels and restaurants near the concert venues. The circus act Cirque du Soleil canceled shows in three cities.

Cancellations of concerts and conventions threaten to hurt restaurants, hotels and small businesses in Raleigh, Wilmington, Charlotte and Greensboro.

The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau reported that 12 groups have canceled events in Wake County, where Raleigh is located.

Thirty-one others are reconsidering their plans to hold events, the bureau said; that puts nearly $36 million in visitor spending in jeopardy.

Businesses in North Carolina are in a similar situation to those shut down by disasters or affected by military base closings, losing business to circumstances beyond their control, says Dennis Ceru, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College. He recommends companies build cash reserves to help them handle a drop in revenue.

“Small-business owners are tossed about on the oceans of business cycles more so than large companies are,” Ceru says.

Companies hoping to recruit workers to North Carolina are also concerned. Craft beer brewing has become a big industry in North Carolina over the past two decades, but Keil Jansen is worried that he won’t be able to attract people experienced in beer making to his growing Durham brewery, Ponysaurus Brewing Co. He’s afraid the people he’d want to hire will be drawn to states like California and Colorado, seen as more socially progressive than North Carolina.

“If you know how to run (the brewing process) and run it well, you can live anywhere and work where you want,” says Jansen, whose company was launched in 2013.

When Jansen has an opening, he expects to advertise the fact that Durham is more liberal than other parts of the state.

In the meantime, he’s trying to let his customers know he doesn’t agree with the law. Ponysaurus and another brewery are producing a new type of beer and plan to donate the profits to gay-rights groups.