(WGHP) – The tourism and hospitality industries in our state lost $ 10 billion to the pandemic.

Now Triad City leaders believe that hope will arise when it comes to bringing dollars back to the region.

Greensboro Science Center is one of the attractions making a comeback after a tough year.

“Many people have told us that Greensboro and tourism don’t go hand and hand, but science has proven otherwise,” said Glenn Dobrogosz, CEO of Greensboro Science Center.

The latest design has made it a three-in-one goal. It contributed to their record breaking May as more than 45,000 people walked through their doors that month alone.

“I’m so glad we made the decisions we made during COVID. We could have stopped construction easily, ”said Dobrogosz. “It’s a three-in-one goal. It is an aquarium, a science museum and a zoo in one. “

Dobrogosz said tourist attractions like this one, as well as local restaurants and shops, are the backbone of this economy.

“Tourism is the purest form of economic development, with 70 percent of our guests currently coming from outside of Guilford County. They come here, they spend their money here, they spend their money in the city center – other cultural attractions, ”said Dobrogosz.

Hotels in High Point are booked less than 20 miles away.

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It’s not just because of the High Point Furniture Market and the High Point Rockers’ baseball games.

“We have the National Senior Hall of Fame Golf Championship next week, June 15-18. That brings about 200 golfers to the area. The following week we have the Miss North Carolina Pageant, ”said Nancy Bowman of the High Point Visitor’s Bureau.

Now that the High Point Theater is open at full capacity, it will allow more spectators to attend the pageant.

In Winston-Salem, Visit Winston-Salem’s President Richard Geiger said the city’s tourism industry shrank 50 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they could have got 25 percent back.

“At the end of March, April, May our congress business came back, our regional association business came back,” said Geiger.

While Triad officials said it isn’t the cash flow they were used to from the days before COVID-19, this is a step in the right direction.

“We are definitely in a much better position than we were a year ago,” said Geiger.

Visit NC officials said the tourism and hospitality industries were still shedding 100,000 jobs across the state. 500,000 people were hired during the pandemic.

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