State’s hospitality leaders name for state assist Tourism is essential to Illinois restoration, says southern Illinois professional

SPRINGFIELD – State tourism and hospitality leaders asked lawmakers for additional assistance during a committee hearing Thursday as the state plans next steps for its economic recovery.

Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, told the House Tourism Committee Thursday that hotels are among the hardest hit industries in the pandemic and the industry may not see a full recovery until 2024, the earliest.

“The situation certainly looks encouraging, but there is still a lot of work to be done for the hotel and tourism industries to fully recover,” said Jacobson. Recovery, he said, will not come in a year or two, but will be a process that will take several years.

Hotels in Illinois suffered $ 3.5 billion in losses, and more than 21,000 hotel workers were laid off last year, according to Jacobson.

Jacobson told lawmakers that the key to revitalizing this segment of the economy would be to enable billions of dollars in events and gatherings if events and gatherings could be resumed as quickly as possible in a safe manner and the US dollars were channeled to hotels and businesses that are hardest hit by the pandemic for the state each year.

“In addition to the health and safety of our employees and guests, our number one priority is getting hotel employees back to work. Our hotels want to get back up and running, but need direct financial support in the short term,” said Jacobson.

In addition to providing short-term financial assistance, industry leaders said the adoption of limited COVID-19 corporate liability coverage would help hotels and businesses work toward a full recovery.

Andy Waterman, communications director for ILLINOISouth Tourism based in Swansea, said the full impact of the pandemic on tourism in southern Illinois would not be known until October, when the 2020 numbers are in. But he knows the numbers are way down, he said on Monday.

“Most of our tourism is event-based tourism,” he said, “things like the Du Quoin State Fair, the Pinckneyville Thresherman’s Association, the Centralia Balloon Festival, and Popeye Picnic (in Chester).”

All of these events except the balloon festival were canceled in 2020 – and the balloon festival was limited to a smaller drive-through event.

“These events draw thousands of people and (without them) these communities are in great trouble,” Waterman said.

He said in 2019 that tourism was one of the top profitable sectors in Illinois. “We are attracting more visitors every year, not just to Chicago but across the state,” he said. Tourism brought $ 43 billion to Illinois in 2019.

“Tourism will be key to the state’s recovery,” said Waterman.

Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said additional reopening guidelines are needed to help companies in trouble get back on their feet.

According to Karr, industry leaders welcome the added flexibility for events in the “bridge phase” before reopening, but question how organizations can effectively enforce capacity policies as outlined in the plan.

“We have to maximize our business,” Karr said, adding that just because a deal is open doesn’t mean it’s okay. “Nobody’s business was built to survive at 50% or even 75% utilization,” Karr said.

In the “bridge” phase, fully vaccinated persons will not count towards the capacity restrictions of an event location. Karr said the current plan calls for companies to find out for themselves how to prove someone is fully vaccinated.

“Respectfully, that’s untenable,” added Karr.

Jacobson said an alternative would be to base capacity policies and reductions on hospitalization usage rather than case positivity, given that a larger portion of the state’s population is vaccinated.

“This is something that the governor and the (Illinois Department of Public Health) approach has changed a lot over the past few weeks, and we support it,” said Jacobson.

Illinois Restaurant Association representative Derek Blaida said the state’s food service industry is also heavily reliant on events and tourism.

He said 20% of Illinois restaurants are projected to permanently close from the pandemic and more than 124,000 food service jobs have been lost.

“We must continue to build on pragmatic approaches to reopening regulations so that we can plan and win for our state congresses, annual events, festivals and more,” said Blaida. “Our first-class restaurants, hotels and event venues cannot lose another summer due to strict regulations and occupancy limits.”

“We only want to make incremental progress so that restaurants can keep their doors open, continue to serve communities and employ staff,” he added.

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