Wanted: More than $100 grand to pay for moving volleyball players up and down Interstate 75.

That's the plea Atlanta hospitality leaders will soon be making to their members, said Mark Vaughan, executive vice president, chief sales and marketing officer for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Big South Qualifier, a big volleyball tournament, was scheduled to be played downtown at the Georgia World Congress Center. But the March 14 tornado damaged the convention center and forced hospitality officials to move the games to several facilities around the metro area.

It cost the ACVB about $175,000 to transport players, coaches and officials to the 3,800-plus matches, which were played everywhere from the Cobb Galleria Centre to the Georgia International Convention Center near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The March 21-23 tournament brought 38,000 people to the metro area and was expected to have an economic impact of about $18 million.

"I would look at this as an insurance policy," said Vaughan. "In the long-term, for them to come back over and over to the city is worth it for us."

Vaughan said the $175,000 could come from a combination of sources, including the ACVB, the GWCC and hotel partners.

"Certainly the Congress Center is going to share in the cost with the entire hospitality community," said Katy Pando, spokeswoman for the GWCC.

Atlanta hospitality leaders worked around the clock after the tornado to salvage business, including the Big South Qualifier, the largest event at the time. Several smaller meetings have been canceled, but most big shows have gone forward, Atlanta conventions leaders said. They lamented Monday losing the Clinical Laboratory Management Association conference, which was supposed to start Sunday and end Tuesday.

Going the extra mile is important in the convention industry, even when extra money is involved, said Dan Graveline, executive director of the GWCC. It retains business, he said, and attracts other events.

It also can work when an event is canceled by its planners, Graveline said. For example, instead of seeking the cancellation fee of a nursery show that recently called off its convention because of downsizing, he waived the cost. The idea is that when operators get the show back on its feet, they remember the generosity of the GWCC.

"It's money well spent," Graveline said.