Tourism in Central New York has all but come to a halt since mid-March when college sporting events were cancelled, and retailers and restaurants shut their doors. All but one convention booked for this year have bailed out.
Visit Syracuse President and CEO Danny Liedka says a normally $900 million dollar industry might be down to less than $300 million if trends continue. He says the shutdown been catastrophic to the economy, the county budget, and the agency.
"Taking about a $750,000 hit was not easy to absorb. We had to furlough half of our staff and reduce budgets where we could. But we also realized we could not sacrifice the future. My sales team has done a great job focusing on 2021. Next year is looking to be a great year right now. So is 2022"
In the meantime, though, Liedka says their playbook is clearly limited since they can’t really market the region to other parts of the state, the northeast, or Canada just yet. Instead, they’re trying to build local confidence in…and awareness of what the area has to offer.
"What do we have an abundance of here in Central New York? It's the great outdoors. We've got great parks, great places to get away from people. That's really been the focus. Food certainly. Some of the agritourism as far as farm to table and craft beverages...those tend to be in remote locations."
Liedka says they’re holding out hope there can be some form of college sports this fall. He says the unknown is scary.
"If we go into the fall without that...I mean, the year has already been horrendous, it just makes matters even worse. We're sitting on eggshells waiting to see if there will be a college football or even basketball season. That's a really big demand generator, and if you take that out, that's the last large thing we have to look forward to now that the fair is gone."
Liedka says the hospitality industry has taken the hardest hit, normally driven by large events requiring overnight stays. He estimates about 85 percent of hotel workers are unemployed. For example, Liedka says a 250 room hotel with 120 employees is down to four. The month of May normally sees room occupancy in the 70 percent range; Liedka says it was 13 percent. All of that cuts into sales, room occupancy, and other taxes that support county government.
MALLS CAN REOPEN FRIDAY
Malls in Central New York including Destiny USA can reopen Friday if they meet certain air quality criteria. Governor Cuomo gave them the green light today in regions that have entered phase four. But he says malls should install air filters with a certain density rating.
"MERV 13 filters out the coronavirus. Some systems can't take MERV 13, so its either 13, 12, or 11. One of those three filters, along with ventilation protocols."
That means more fresh and less recirculated air. Destiny USA welcomes the news and says they’re ready to reopen. In a statement, they say they’ll have safety protocols and precautions in place, though there’s no mention of air quality measures. Mall officials and lawmakers have lobbied the state for weeks to reopen the mall sooner, though stores with outside entrances have been open to customers. Destiny employs about 5,000 people and generates a significant percentage of the county's sales tax revenue.
