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Build Tourism Advocates Every Day
We know we are in for a long recovery. According to STR and Tourism Economics most recent forecast shows that by the end of 2021, average hotel occupancy will still only have returned to around 78% of what it was at the end of 20191. As many states conclude their fiscal year and adjust their priorities to accommodate funding decreases, the need to tell the story of tourism’s impact is just beginning.
With many tourism organizations funded primarily by taxes and fees, we know that future funding remains in peril. By all accounts, next year’s tax collections will be the same or lower...
Tourism Can Lead the Way to Recovery – If Budgets are Intact
COVID-19 has brought the tourism industry to a complete halt in a way that could never have been planned for or expected. In the past, we have seen significant impacts to travel and tourism based on world events, including 9/11 and the Great Recession, and localized impacts due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and tornadoes — but nothing on the scale we are seeing today.
In each of these past situations, we learned lessons about community recovery, federal assistance and future emergency planning. Tourism professionals are reviewing, discussing and analyzing these past lessons to plan for how to recover from the impact of this pandemic. But the key resources we cannot overlook are the case studies about defunding or dramatic funding decreases to DMOs and state tourism offices.
Longwoods...
