Coronavirus Latest: How Philadelphia Tourism Industry Is Dealing With Shutdown During Normally Busy Spring Break Season
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- For many students around the country, this would have been spring break, a time when Philadelphia tourism dollars pour into the economy. But the coronavirus pandemic has stopped nearly all tourism revenue.
However, plans are in place to bring this industry back to life.
"This is usually a time that we're gearing up for the crowds, but obviously, this year is a little bit different," said Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association.
Philadelphia's 12,535 hotel rooms sit empty. Occupancy rates, normally around 95%, have plummeted.
"Right now, they're in single digits," Grose said.
More than 20,000 tourism industry workers, from hotel clerks to janitors, are at home.
"Most of those people are laid off, because if the people aren't coming, those folks don't work," Grose said.
Graduations have been canceled, weddings postponed and leisure travel is practically nonexistent. But Grose says there is one neighborhood where hotels are still booking rooms.
"The only area that seems to be doing OK is University City, seems to have a lot of health care workers staying in their hotels," Grose said. "I'm very optimistic on the comeback once it starts, but we have to get to that point."
And once we return to whatever normal will become, Julie Coker thinks "Philadelphia will recover quickly."
Coker is the president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is helping plan the comeback.
"We are doing everything we can in this period to make sure that we're set up for future success," she said.
Famous Philly landmarks and museums have made tours available virtually. There are also Philly-centric Zoom backdrops you can download for company meetings, everything from high above City Hall with William Penn to being feet from the Liberty Bell.
"We're doing things like keeping Philadelphia top of mind," Coker said. "At the appropriate time, we will pivot to what we refer to as the unstoppable ingenuity of Philadelphia."
That final step will help reschedule canceled conventions and target domestic and international leisure travel.
"This is not the best of times right now, but it certainly doesn't define who we are," Coker.
Both Grose and Coker say the first step of the recovery process is helping out tourism industry workers who have been laid off or furloughed.
The Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association has created a workers relief fund. If you'd like to donate, click here.
