“The whole industry has come to a stop, so to speak,” said Butler County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Mark Hecquet. “The whole industry, from restaurants to hotels to attractions, are seeing tremendous layoffs, furloughs of employees. The hotel industry was having a record year before this all happened.”
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In Butler County, Hecquet said hotels have a 20 percent average occupancy rate, but before the state orders, hotels were seeing around a 70 percent rate. He said more urban areas than Butler County are seeing a harder negative impact.
Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce President Dan Bates said it would likely take awhile for the tourism and leisure-based businesses to begin to recover from “screeching halt” due to the COVID-19 crisis. Next to local restaurants, the hotel industry may be one of the first to see an economic spike by those who travel for work, he said. But for the rest of the tourism and visitor industry, “it’s going to take a while.”
“I think the first few trips people will start to take will be a little closer to home until they feel more comfortable,” Bates said.
He said people would likely want to look for entertainment options, but it will be more low-key, such as drinks and dinner.
Some types of businesses, such as gyms or recreation facilities, will recover faster because, in his opinion, they are easier to control and disinfect.
As of now, the end of the expanded stay-at-home order issued by Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton earlier this month ends at 11:59 p.m. May 1.
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Hecquet said as the population looks forward to returning to some semblance of normal life, outdoor facilities, such as Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park, will be one of the first types of recreation businesses to reopen.
“It is a big, open space where you can get the right physical distancing from people,” Hecquet said. “As restrictions are going to be lifted and people are going to get back out and about, they’re going to be looking for those kinds of entertainment options — parks and things like that. I definitely think in the short term, we’ll see a spike.”
Parks and golf courses are now being used by people escaping cabin fever as they’re required to stay at home as much as possible, including working from home.
Pyramid Hill Executive Director Sean FitzGibbons said it is a “difficult” time as the sculpture park, which is reliant on visitors to and residents of Butler County.
“It’s the same as the restaurants and small businesses all throughout our community,” he said.
FitzGibbons is planning for the park to open next month but had to cancel the annual Arts and Earth Day at the park scheduled for later this month. However, he said the Arts and Earth Day experience will be placed online as his team “has been able to come up with some great and innovating ideas for a digital experience.”
When businesses start to reopen, FitzGibbons believes social distancing guidelines will still be in effect “we’ll still be able to provide the service that some others won’t be able to.”
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While businesses across the board have seen declining revenues due to the virus outbreak, Bates believes the economic damage won't be as long-lasting as the 2008 Great Recession, which recovery took several years.
There are financial safety nets, such as the CARES Act, he said, “And in 2008, the financial institutions were damaged. That’s not happening right now.”
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