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SPECIAL REPORT: Coronavirus Impact


Virginia is for coronavirus


Tourism and hospitality industries take hard hits VisitNorfolk


President and CEO Kurt J. Krause says the pandemic has created an uncertain outlook for tourism this summer.


As of mid-March, the organiza-


tion planned to launch a May media “blitz” to promote tourism to the Richmond region. “It’s to spur the traffic in later summer and fall,” Berry says. “We’re strategizing for when we come out of this.” The Norfolk region also saw an


early cluster of conference cancelations and postponements amid coronavirus fears, and also has seen inquiries about scheduling upcoming events and con- ferences in the near future drying up. “Leads that would be coming in


by Sydney Lake W


ithin the first week of coronavirus spreading into Virginia, Lansdowne


Resort and Spa in Leesburg saw about 50% of its conferences and events for March and April immedi- ately postponed or canceled. “For now, it’s a short-term event,”


says Rich Keurajian, Lansdowne director of sales and marketing. But that may have been wishful


thinking, as the American Hotel and Lodging Association said that it anticipated 45% of the nation’s hotel jobs would be lost by the beginning of April. Predictions of a 30% drop in hotel patronage this year would translate into 4 million lost jobs, the association said. The story was much the same


in Virginia, where event reservations and hotel occupancy rates were


28 | APRIL 2020


already nosediving before the state and federal government issued direc- tives to avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people. “Everyone has been so caught


off-guard that they’re just canceling,” says Ted Rubis, president of Henrico County-based Ampa Events, an events management company that puts on big corporate conferences and events. “The [events] industry is just being shut down. The business that we all had, my colleagues, myself … it’s all disappeared. There are no bookings.” In Richmond, events that draw


thousands of visitors to the state capital have been canceled, including the Jef- ferson Cup soccer tournament, which was expected to attract 12,000 attend- ees, says Richmond Region Tourism President and CEO Jack Berry.


for the next few weeks aren’t coming in that would have an impact,” Visit- Norfolk President and CEO Kurt J. Krause says. “All we’re going to do now is lose business.” Hotels and conference centers


across Virginia, from The Omni Homestead Resort to the Hampton Roads Convention Center and The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, all saw cancelations and postpone- ments within the first week of the virus’ outbreak in Virginia. “Planners are shifting dates because


everything is so unpredictable right now,” says John Hess, director of sales and marketing for The Omni Home- stead Resort in Hot Springs. “They just need to buy some time.” Associations that had planned to visit The Home- stead this spring are generally changing to a fall timeframe, he says. Hospitality and tourism-related


businesses also began quickly receiving financial hits in the form of cancel- ations and lost bookings during the early days of the crisis, says Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Asso- ciation President Eric Terry.


Photo by Mark Rhodes


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