Promotion of the Sunbelt area of the South and Southwestern United States was examined to determine perceptions of place and place qualities by institutions and individuals responsible for changing the geography of American industry over the past 60 years. Researchers sent questionnaires to 24 state and 80 city chambers of commerce throughout the South, Southwest, and border states. Results suggested a substantial difference between Southeast and Southwest in how Sunbelt boundaries and membership are perceived and indicated that the Sunbelt is not a region in the geographic sense. Ratings given 33 locational factors varied widely among different sections of the Sunbelt. The factors included quality of education; climate; recreational opportunities; low labor costs; favorable labor-management relations; skilled labor pool; dynamics of population growth; low cost of electricity, living, and land/building; favorable tax structure, community services, and pollution control laws; access to markets, resources, transportation, and metropolitan areas; and quality of natural environment. Respondents rated favorable labor-management relations the single most important factor. Other factors rated most important were access to markets and highways, quality of education, and labor conditions. Rated least important were environmental, aesthetics-climate, natural beauty, and recreation. Tables provide ratings of locational factors and respondents' maps of the Sunbelt. (LFL)