Travel hungry Californians are not welcome in New York and cannot even land in Europe due to the growing coronavirus outbreak in their home state, so local tourism councils are luring them in by promising safe accommodations, restaurants and sightseeing clean. to boost their devastated economies.
The Sonoma County tourism office launched its “Life Opens” campaign this week, targeting people within walking distance of California’s San Francisco Bay Area wine country. Visit Santa Cruz County also launched an ad campaign this week, inviting people to “Let’s Cruz Again,” even when it reminded visitors to wear a mask.
The Greater Palm Springs Visitors Bureau created a public service announcement for the Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego markets asking people to be responsible, courteous, and to wear masks in part so that businesses can stay open .
California took a major step back in reopening its economy this week amid an alarming rise in reported cases of coronavirus and hospitalizations. Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of three weeks of bars and many establishments closed in counties with approximately three-quarters of the state’s population. The list includes Riverside County, which is home to the desert resort town of Palm Springs, but not Sonoma or Santa Cruz, which doesn’t seem like a similar increase in confirmed virus cases.
Leisure travel, which resumed last month, is still allowed and hotels enthusiastically welcomed visitors over the long weekend of July 4, even as public health experts and mayors of popular cities in Santa Cruz Beach and Half Moon Bay pleaded with people to stay home for the holidays.
Tourism advocates say that it is possible to travel safely as long as people wear masks, wash their hands frequently, and keep separate from others. They want visitors to support local businesses while getting away from it all.
“Tourism is not dangerous. I think people who don’t follow the rules are dangerous, ”said Crista Luedtke, who owns a boutique hotel in Guerneville, Sonoma County, as well as two restaurants and a bar. She said people who go shopping “are just as dangerous if they don’t follow the rules.”
Business at the 14-room Boon Hotel and Spa has been “crazy” since opening to tourists, he said. Guests must stay at least two nights and are assigned two sun loungers by the pool for their stay. Luedtke said most of the guests are from the Bay Area and some drive from San Diego, Seattle or Oregon.
“No one has flown to reach us and everyone is delighted to be out of their homes. It is the first time that they leave the refuge so that everyone is in heaven, ”she said.
Travelers have questions about what’s open, with a lot of interest in swimming, boating, camping, and beaches, said Birgitt Vaughan, director of global media relations for tourism in Sonoma County. They do not show much concern.
The countries of Europe have been opened for tourists from places that are considered to have the pandemic under control; That does not include the United States. New York requires visitors to California and other critical states to be quarantined for 14 days.
Visit California, the nonprofit organization that promotes state tourism, exclusively markets to residents for the first time since after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It developed a “responsible travel code” that asks visitors to educate themselves and promote safety while traveling. Research shows that about 56% of Californians are resuming normal travel or are willing to venture out, if it’s safe, according to the travel agency.
Tourism in California last year generated $ 145 billion in visitor spending and employed 1.2 million people. The pandemic is expected to cut those revenues in half this year, erasing what officials say is a decade of growth, as popular tourist attractions can’t be opened. Disneyland in Southern California’s Orange County has scrapped plans for a reopening in mid-July.
Visit California Executive Director Caroline Beteta said she agrees on the reopening of reopens, no matter how painful, and the state order for masks to stabilize virus cases.
“I hope that really stops the situation so that we can modestly take one step forward at a time instead of one step forward, five steps back,” he said.
Local tourism boards are also sending safety messages and asking visitors to do their part while drinking in the cellars, driving along the Pacific coast, and sitting in charming city squares.
The Monterey County Visitors Bureau developed a signage promoting social distancing and the wearing of masks, with a photo of a sea otter and a photo mask. Prospective visitors are still looking for hotel deals and entertainment options to decide where to go, said office president and CEO Rob O’Keefe, “but the main one is: How safe is it?”
Visit Santa Cruz County suspended advertising over the holiday weekend, after the governor announced setbacks on Wednesday, CEO Maggie Ivy said. She understands concerns about too many people, but says local businesses need help. People flocked to the beaches even before hotels were allowed to make leisure reservations, he said.
“We are talking about another year of having to navigate these choppy waters, so how do we do it in a responsible way that allows us to have an appearance of economy and employment for our residents and at the same time try to protect ourselves and others, “she said.
Tourism campaigns shake Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. The infectious diseases professor at the University of California, San Francisco says he is reminded that the Hong Kong campaign “will take your breath away” that the Hong Kong tourism board was slow to pull amid the SARS outbreak in 2003.
He knows that some people need to get away and suggests that they participate in activities that are less risky than others: camping under the stars, kayaking, or strolling down a main street with few people instead of going to indoor bars.
“It is difficult to make general statements and things change so fast that people have to be, just like you look at the weather report, you look at the COVID report before going to a particular place,” he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that disappear within two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more serious illnesses, such as pneumonia and death.
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