Tourism in Maryland after COVID-19 Webinar
Hi. Tu alumni and friends thank you for joining us today for this webinar on, tourism in Maryland, at Macomb in 19 I'm Jenna Mills the director, of alumni engagement, programs, and a proud 2009. And 2016. Graduate. Joining. Me today from the tu alumni relations team, is Steve. Rosenfeld, director of alumni communication. And recognition, Steve, is helping with our technology, and will be helping answer questions, as they come along through, the panelists. Before. We can the panel discussion I just have a few notes. Attendees, will remain muted throughout the webinar if you have any questions, throughout the webinar please use the chat window the, chat box in the bottom right corner of your window and direct all questions to, panelists. We. Will be monitoring questions throughout, the sessions and the panelists, can answer question at the end of the discussion. Please. Note this session, will be recorded and will be shared with all attendees, when it is finalized, I'd. Now like to introduce our, moderator for, today's panel Louise Miller Louise. Received her master's degree from Towson University. In 2010, and is the assistant vice president of, university, promotions, and events at Towson, University she. Serves on the Baltimore County Commission, of conference and tourism, and works, closely with the Towson Chamber of Commerce and other Maryland organizations, to, partner on marketing and promotional, opportunities, Louise. Thank you so much for leading today's discussion, I am very excited about this topic. Thank. You Jenna I -, I'm very excited, about this topic since, it is June already, and. Summer. Is coming and, many of us will probably not, be leaving the state this summer so. I'd like to thank the, Alumni, offers. For. Having. This very timely. Webinar. I would. Also like to. Thank. Our, panel. And fellow, alums, for participating, today, so. I'm pleased to introduce today's. Panel, and ask, that you give them a little wave so, people, can put a face to it with the name Kelly. Groff is a. 1985. Graduate. Of T U and currently. Serves as the president. And CEO, of. Visit. Munk. Matra. Hampson, received. Her master's, degree from, tu, in. 2002. And is. Manager, of tourism, for Baltimore. County, tourism. And cultural, arts. Susan. Jones is, the executive. Director, of Ocean. City's, Hotel. Motel Restaurant. Association and, she is a 1990. Grant and. Our final panelist, is Leslie. Troy a. 2005. To you grad and the, public relations, communications. Manager. Of, Maryland's. Office of Tourism, so. Thank you all for agreeing, to participate and. I'm. Excited, to get started but. Before we dive into, these. Questions I, think it'd be helpful to hear any updates, from each of you as, to where your county, is in reopening. And what, that means for businesses. In your area Leslie. Maybe. We can start with you since you work with tourism, for the entire, state, of Maryland. Sure. Absolutely, so. Right now at an, entire, state. We. Are in a full-force phase one of the roadmap to recovery, so. What that means is that, across. The board the state has allowed for, the reopening, of, what. They consider activities, to be low risk so. That includes some of these smaller retail, shops, curbside. Pickups, deliveries, with restaurants, carry-outs, some. Of the recreational. Activities, such as golfing, boating. And of course some of them still do have restrictions but. Across. The board those, things have been allowed to reopen and, then throughout. That each, of the local jurisdictions. Have also been given, the. Guidance, to, either. Allow. What the state is allowing, full statewide. Or, they, can limit, any, of, those restrictions.
Thank. You that's perfect. Why, don't we hear from Marjorie, or Kelly. You. Marjory. We're having some technical difficulties. Okay. How about now alright, that's very, well. Of course Baltimore, County, just went, into phase one last Friday. Our. Restaurants. Of course are opened, for outdoor, dining only. They're. Following, all the state requirements. And restrictions with. That of. Course there are some that can't, reopen because of course they have no outdoor area. So hopefully, soon. There. May be some, in inside, dining, but at the moment no, our. Golf courses are open our public golf courses are open and they, do have, of course, restrictions as. Well, I. Have. Given Jenna, a, couple, links that, folks. Can go on and you, know always call before, you go I think that's the best solution but, our, links. To all of our you, know basic. Baltimore. County government, restrictions. Are listed. As well, as a. Golfing. Which. Is run by our Revenue Authority a golfing. Link will give golfers, a little more info our. Wineries, are open, now for they're, not. So much events, but as. The. The, folks can go sit. You, know spaced apart. And enjoy. A wine tasting, on the premises. They, are limiting, their amount of folks that do enter, the grounds. We. Have five wineries. In Baltimore. County, all are, following those, steps. There, is one winery, that does not have a tasting, room so of course they're not offering anything, at this time but. We. Are basically, following a lot of the state's. Prior. You, know executive. Orders and we are in phase. One, Thank. You Marjorie and Audrey. Mentioned about, the links, at. The end of the webinar there will be a screen, up that will provide you links to. All. Of the panelists. The suggestions. On. Where to get more information on. Why. Don't we hear from you. Kelly. You're not you're, alright. There. We go. Kelly. You're muted, okay. Is that better that's good thank you. Everybody. We, are also in. Phase one of our recovery and that, started, yesterday in, Montgomery County we. Have a million, people. In our County so some. Of our recovery will, be a little lagging, behind what, happens at a state level, but, the most, exciting, part I think of our residents, is that any. Any restaurant that has outdoor seating is now open, starting, today if they so choose so, we're, excited.
Okay. Susan talk, to us about Ocean, City well. We don't have a million people here in terms of year-round residents. So and we, first spin the beach boardwalk on may 9 our. Entire. Population in, Ocean City is all of 8,000 people so we sort of had. A nice slow approach the. Beach and boardwalk are open and then we had phase 1 began on May 15th which allowed for, our golf courses to open our, boating. And recreational. Activities on the water like paddleboarding kayaking. Jet, skiing those. Guys are all open. We have carryout restaurants. And then fortunately, last Friday, we entered that 1.75. One phase and we got outdoor dining, so. Luckily, we, have a lot of really innovative restaurant. Operators. In Ocean City those, who only have indoor, dining got really creative and decided. To figure out how to put, tables in their parking lots and we worked really closely with our ton of Ocean City Planning, and Zoning folks, and the County Health Department, to make sure that they were able. To do that safely so now we also have the outdoor dining and last. Weekend, we had a lot of sunshine so it was really awesome to, see people out and about having, drinks and dining. Outside. So. As Susan and I was gonna stick with you we've seen a lot of mediocre. On Ocean, City, I think. Fishtail is, now. More popular than, ever he talked to us a little bit about everything. That all the coverage you've received, sure. Well, fish tales interestingly enough, was. He's. Cousins, with the person who designed the tables and that particular, production company, was, going out of business so, as a business that had no business because, they only did a fence the. Company, said what can we do to stay afloat so they built these really cool indoor, or outdoor. Tables, out of inner tubes so. That launched. Fish tails intimal kinds of national, publicity and, then. Sort of eyes focused. On Ocean City and what was Ocean City doing. Sadly. We, have so many operators, that are doing everything by, the book, according. To the CDC guidelines and. They have implemented, all kinds of workplace, protocols, for safety, but, the media has chosen, to, only focus, on those people on the, boardwalk who, are huddled together because, at that time there were no other activities.
So. The, media is really trying to find the negative and they're. Focusing, on those visitors who are willy-nilly. And don't care if they wear masks or not but. If you actually are here and you, took a picture on, a side. View at, the pocket bath rashers french-fry line you, would see that, there are cones every, six feet telling, people where to stand. All. Over, national de on CNN on Fox News they, were done from a telephoto. Lens and a compression. Was placed on that picture so. The media really, has, not been our friend at all and, I'm, actually right now working with a photographer, he's in town today and he's. Taking a documentary, of all of the people who are doing things right and I'm. Working on a press release to push the positive, so. That we can hopefully have some positive, press coverage that's. Great it sounds, like the city and all, the businesses, are doing everything possible to, keep. Your. Or safe, so, thanks for sharing that. So. We have a. Lot. Of outdoor recreations. And they are permitted in the state do, you have any guidance on, how patrons, can safely, utilize, golf, courses state. Parks, beaches. Kelly. I know you just, recently in, Montgomery, County Open. Golf Courses how's, that going. Okay. Can you hear me now yes. We can hear you okay. The. Golf. Course is opening, was a great, way for people to start to get out and you know the requirements, are one person per card so everybody's, being very cautious very careful, I, think. That there's just a lot. Of pent up demand to, the outside. As. We move through spring, and into summer in, Montgomery County we, have four hundred parks. 90,000. Acres. Agriculture. Is preserved. So we have a lot of wineries breweries farmers. Farmers markets. So. We're expecting you, know that to be pretty. Busy as, restrictions. Continue to be lifted, and people want to get outside. The. The counties. And the states of Maryland DC and Virginia but also really, tried to work, together in. Their openings, because you know if we open, and DC doesn't and we're in different restriction, levels you can see a lot of people who DC coming into Maryland which creates, some challenges, so, it's been a really good concerted, effort but. I think that our our, strength in Montgomery County will be all the outdoor recreation that, we offer and I foresee, that people will start to get out and move around and, enjoy, some you know scenic drives or, wineries, or breweries. You. Know we didn't talk about and, we don't have anyone, on the, panel. But. We have a lot of mountains and, a. Lot of great trails, in the area can I can you I'm, we're. Not sorry um Leslie. Can. You talk a little bit about, some. Other offerings, the state has. Joy. Yeah, I mean we're, very fortunate in Maryland to have such a diverse landscape. Obviously. From the beaches through, the Chesapeake, Bay over to the mountains and, we do have 18, different scenic byways across, the state and. There are really great opportunities, to kind of get off the highway and, really you, know devote yourself into the landscape I mean, right now there, are you know some challenges, because of course things aren't fully open, but, if you're just looking to get you know a drive and kind of explore, these, different areas of the state and then get outdoors because all of them include, different, state parks natural. Centers. Joe. Parks all these different opportunities for you to really get out and explore and one of the fortunate things is that June, is. Actually, national great outdoors month so. From, our perspective we're. Really pushing. Out that messaging, to get outdoors and we've got an entire collection, of. Just, again different, activities, ranging, from you know those small recreational activities. To these, larger. Landscapes. And we're very fortunate again, to be part of the Appalachian, Trail the. Great Allegheny Passage, so, you know couldn't the canal and there's, some really great hiking, you can do like biking walking and. It's just a way to get outdoors which, again, is all permitted, currently, during this yz1 so. It's again really great for your mental health and for people just to get outdoors and enjoy some of the sunshine. Thank. You. Okay. So most. Counties. And cities. Have canceled. 4th of July parades. And fireworks. Do. You have anything, to, tell us about, and. This is for anyone. What. Your counties, or the state might be doing, to celebrate, the 4th of July I.
Guess. I can jump in, city. We have. Not canceled, our fireworks, at. This point they were, contracted. With the. Firework, company, and we. Are awaiting. The governor's decision, on, types of gatherings and numbers and restrictions, but, at this point we felt that it was very important, to for. A mental health perspective to, not cancel, the fireworks, so there's. Plenty of space to spread out on the beach I know I see a question that's come through in terms of beaches there, you, know there's plenty of open. Space on, a beach so you can spread your blanket, out wide and far. At. This point we are moving forward with July 4th, ok. 3, how about you well. In Baltimore County almost. Every, one of our 4th, of July celebrations. Whether they be parades, or fireworks, are. Coordinated. By our chambers, of commerce. Or. Community. Associations. So, this point, I believe. Most, of them have canceled. The. The county government, and grieve in our office we don't make, these, events. At. This point. Mostly. All I have not heard of any that are still going on I think there may cancel ok. Thank You Kelly. How about you, um. No official cancellations, yet but what I expect, over that weekend, and that holiday, are a lot of family, gatherings and there's opportunities. For that you know either, in, your home social, distancing, or at, any, of the restaurants that offer out the receding or the wineries of the brewery so even. If we are, not able to pull off the fireworks in large crowds there will be other ways to potentially, enjoy the fireworks. And. Thank you. All. Right so what, do you think Marylanders. Can, do to, help each other like local, business, and and. The. Entire, state, to have in. The, area of tourism to, UM, get. A recover I. Take. That one first if you can. I. Would, just make a plead that, everybody buy local. That. We, have a lot of. Small. Boutique stores we, have a lot of wineries and breweries and we offer, a lot of great products, especially, this time of year in Maryland and I would just encourage everybody to by local, and plan. Your family trip and stay in Maryland to help move our economy as fast as possible, I. Would. Echo those comments in, fact early on we actually created, a gift card program, back. At the beginning of April so there were lots of restaurants and, hotels, who said ok if you buy $100 gift card we'll make the value 125. So. We were trying to help the people while they could help us locally, and it really is all about the fact that we have so many awesome amazing, things, in Maryland, you, know as Leslie, mentioned from the beach to the bay to the mountains you can pretty much do anything you want to do in Maryland so there's plenty of opportunity for travel, and I think, Marylanders, are gonna have to support Marylanders, to get, a get, our feedback because you, know travel, is actually, I just read this and Kelly I don't know if you guys have seen this but it's.
The Great travel depression, so you know businesses. Are in a recession, the, travel, industry is in, a depression, we are really, really hurting. Most. Tourism, offices, and, whether. They be government, or CBeebies. They. Do share, a, nice portion, of the hotel, tax from, their counties, and the. City of course and of, course with people not. Coming. In not staying in hotels, that makes it you, know pretty. Much put some nice chunk, into what the, grant. Program, is that we. Do receive from the state a lot of it is based on the. Hotel, tax, so. Until, we really get you know folks coming back into our counties, and our state, will. Be hurting for a little while but like, everyone prior, to me has, said we need to really support our local businesses, and our restaurants. And. Yeah. We, have a huge, I think Montgomery, County is the only one that beats us for. The restaurant. Industry in, Baltimore County and. Of. Course they've been hurting terribly, so they were all very happy, to get this you know and we're dining, but, you, know most of them are still having the carry out and curbside. Deliveries. Available. I'll. Just share this morning, I was on a call with a colleague, from Port Marriott corporate, and, he. Shared this good news I know it doesn't sound like good news but it truly is when, you look at where China had started, and he, said that every Marriott, property, in China has, now reopened. They. Are at close to 40% occupancy and. I know you. Know six. Months ago that would sound low but it sounds awesome now and so seeing. That recovery, and that wave may be passing, and coming through our way. There's. A lot of hope so, just. Have to keep, plugging along. So. We actually have some questions that have been coming in so, I'm a, Susan. I see, you've already. Responded. To Ocean, City but, maybe you. Can go ahead and, I'll. Read the question and you. Can answer it. Ocean. City, could anyone, on the panel clarify. If people, are allowed to go and sit. On the, beach in. The water. While, respecting, social. Distancing. That, came up for Ocean City but it has, also come, up with Rocky, Point Beach Sandy, Point and Chesapeake. Beach's. Say. I can actually jump in on that the. Best thing to do is actually to, double-check.
Rocky. Point Sandy, Point all those are part of the state park service and although. They. Are open, all the outdoor areas. And spaces. It's. Best to check with each of those individual. Locations, to. See what those restrictions are, because, again right now folks. Are allowed to be open but it doesn't necessarily mean that they are and. If are then, yes what. You, know what we've heard from is that those spaces again are considered low-risk and. That as long as folks are socially, distancing. Themselves that. You are allowed to. Go. And sit in the beaches and be in the water right, now it's being considered, as part of the fitness category. So, again, it's it's none, of those loose gray gray, area there of what. Exactly, it's considered, but. Yeah just it's the best just to double check with anything before you go and, a lot of the websites have been really great resources, to, keep that stuff up to date. So. That's another good reminder, that we, will have all the web sites available, at, the end of the webinar. It. Definitely, isn't things that is normal, so checking, websites. Are, going to be important, this summer I, know. I'm rocky point that actually falls within, the Homer County although it is a state park I believe. They, are open. Of course with social distancing, but, I do believe the. Water, aspect. Has to be approved by our health department before, people are encouraged, to get in the water. Yes. Always call before you go. Might. Be a little cold yet anyway. Okay. Susan, about. Ocean City oh and we seen people, in that water. I was. Absolutely, shocked, that I saw people swimming. Personally. I wait until August because, that's when it's warm enough for me but. Here are definitely people swimming our lifeguards, got. On duty right at Memorial Day weekend so we have guards in the stands, and we you know we pretty much say don't go in the ocean and left there's unless there's a lifeguard in the stand for, your own safety. But. You definitely can hop in the water now absolutely, and even, cools so that was you, know a lot of the pools were not able to be open but now the pools are open with capacity, restrictions, as well at the hotels. So. I know this, is a, question. On a lot of people's minds, as we open, up the restaurants, even for. Outdoor. Seating. We. Have a, write. In and ask if, you. Can explain, how the PPE. Restrictions. Worked for, both. Customers, and, were. The. Employees, in our. Restaurants. Happy. To jump in on that one in feedback. We. In Ocean City we became really. Anxious the, minute the stay-at-home order was put in you know we said oh gosh our season isn't only two months away what can we do to. Make, sure that we still have a season because, those Ocean City is a resort community so. We only have June July and August to make the profits, of an entire 12 month period like. Other people around the state so, early on we jumped, in as a community and we formed the Ocean City recovery, team which, includes people from our Chamber of Commerce on hotel-motel Restaurant, Association the. Mayor the, government, staff the. Apartment. Our delegate. Senator, so we pulled together any public, and private, person. That would be affected, and we, created these operational, guidelines and, then we, submit those to the State Office of Tourism for their state task force these, guidelines are, all, about safety. And number. One first, and foremost how, do we protect our employees, because. We have to get the employees, to come in to the restaurants, and hotels, in order, to service the guests so, we immediately started, doing things like okay we have to wear masks we have to have even. The, face shield we have to use single-use, condiments. In a restaurant disposable. Silverware. Disposable. Menus. Things. Like that, the. National, Restaurant Association, and. The American Hotel and Lodging Association, along. With the CDC, have, put in place all, kinds of different operational, guidelines that. Are now they. Have been adopted by the state so, there, is a long set of criteria that, people have to follow in, order, to operate safely so, interns. Aren't you see the question specifically, refers, to temperature, checks most. Of our business owners are checking the temperatures, of their employees, they, are not checking the temperatures, of the guests, because. In a lot of this we all have to remember a personal, responsibility, has, got to fall somewhere and it's, not comfortable enough, to travel they.
Maybe You, shouldn't do that yet but you, have to you. Know wash, your heat. In. The restaurants, and in the hotels the hand sanitizing, stations, are at each you know by, the elevator, by the front desk so. Anything, that you can see on the CDC website has, been, suggested. And implemented, here and our local health department, is the enforcement agent so they've been going around town you know all over the weekend and they're going there now and you, know everybody, is concerned because, we want to make you guys feel safe, because we want you to travel Thank, You Susan I'm ready to go to Ocean City. How. About Montgomery. Community uh I. Agree with Susan the American. Hotel Lodging Association National, Restaurant Association make great resources, for. Us to use on guidelines, and, you. Know if a restaurant is not comfortable, yet and feels. They're not ready they won't open they. Will know when the time is right for them to open either they can't open because they. They. Can't make the numbers work for the capacity. This. Will be more in Phase two but, they. You know until, they know that they can have those guidelines in place they probably will, not open but, those that are open you know have trained their staff and they're ready and they're not going to take any risks so. Are they wearing masks. Or gloves or. Yes. So they definitely are wearing all the servers are wearing masks the hostesses, are wearing masks and I didn't address the specific question, I see about, the restrooms so, one. Of the guidelines is actually, that the people, put these social distancing, marks on the floors leading up to the restrooms, so, you. Know if somebody's in the restroom then you got to stand socially. Business to mark so. You know it's all about putting out the signage, and making sure that, everyone, is aware and they can do their part so that we can all be responsible, and.
You'll. Find it, some. Of the wineries, and breweries they, have already put. Reservation. Technology, on their websites so, you, can reserve, a time, slot of, two two two and a half hours to go visit a winery our brewery. So. You know they've been ahead of this and already and can, reopen and, be able to kind of manage the, crowds. Right. We've. Also heard, and I, was actually on, a WebEx, with Marjorie. For Baltimore, County and. There's. A lot of discussion, about closing. Roads in, order for, restaurants. And. Their. Seating. In. Order to do outdoors. Do. You would you like to talk a little bit about that, sure. The. Road, closures. Of course are going to require a. Permit. It will involve our Public, Works Department it. Will, eventually, even, involve our, police department, so, I think at this point no, roads have been closed, but, most of the restaurants, where they're able they. Are coming, out to the sidewalks, of. Course, the. Roads that would, be closed where. There are you, know like little Main streets, and Bob like for example Towson. That's the prime spot, they're. Able to close if they do in fact but, then. You have Main Street on Reisterstown, Road, I don't. Think you can close Reisterstown. Road you, can't close York Road I mean it. Of course depends on the location, but, I think at this point most of them are making do, by just coming out onto the sidewalks, and putting. Umbrellas, up. Some. Are even going out on to their parking. Lots, but. I'm. Sure they'll be happy when we go into another phase, so, they can go inside but. So. We are our. Initiative, is called shared, streets. The. Montgomery County Department transportation. Horses. Supporting, physically, distance, activity. But, they are working with. Like. Downtown, but thousand downtown Silver Spring to be able to use you. Know the closing. Down streets so that so, restaurants, can move, tables. And have, higher capacity. And. There's. The. Other quote. Unquote problem, is of, course open, liquor, containers. And that would involve, even more.
Policing. So, to speak but um I think. At this point everyone's, just happy to be open, somewhat. Have, their outdoor dining and and everyone is basic. I haven't heard of anything negative and I know our County Executive was on a couple, TV shows last night saying how wonderfully. This, has gone for, those that were able to open, so. Outdoor. Dining. In. The state of Maryland, and all. Of your counties, we have a lot of, arts. And entertainment. Happening. Outdoors. Have, we. Heard anything about. Anything. That'll happen this summer do we expect, to see outdoor, concerts. Do, we expect, to. You. Know, see. People gathering, for. You. Know festivals. Go. Ahead. Good. I was just gonna jump in from this from the statewide perspective, a. Lot, of the concerts, festivals those, larger, scale events, are, part of the last this, h3. Opening. So. Again, until, I, think, we've reached that point you're seeing a lot of these events. Being canceled you, know I'm sure folks heard locally. With, Baltimore City canceling all summer. Events. Pretty. Much through August, and then you're seeing others that haven't necessarily been, canceled, or they're being postpones. Another. Thing that's happening across. The state and actually across the country, is you're seeing a lot of these festivals go, virtual. Dental. Fest is a huge music, festival, that kicks, off Memorial, Day weekend kind of kicks off the summer out. In Western. Maryland and they took it virtual. This. Month is the Pride Month and you're seeing some of the Pride Festival, activities, go virtual Maryland Film Festival, post and, there they've gone virtual, so I think you're going to see a little bit of a shift with, that this summer until. Kind, of you know people kind of navigate through what can and can't be done and, then obviously some of the more smaller scale things. That. Are you know you're talking maybe like 50, people 100 people well, there it's, a lot of it easier. To maintain, the. The crowds. See. That stuff get integrated in I. Think. What's difficult from, our perspective, is our neighboring, state of Delaware, has. Just announced that yesterday you. Can have gatherings, of up to 250, people so. We had a wedding venue that was right on the border of Maryland, and Delaware who. Literally can't. Do any weddings, yet but, just. Not, even a mile literally, you could step your foot onto Delaware, and we're. Allowed to do weddings for 250, people so, you. Know it's very difficult, to, make sense of some of the things that are coming down we all want health, and safety to be first and foremost and.
We Understand, that but. We keep seeing, the numbers on, a downward trend so hopefully we will see some more openings, in phase 2 here. Within hopefully. This week. Great. And. We. Are hopefully. Coming. Into phase 2 shortly. Kelly. You, mentioned. About. When, we spoke earlier about. Tournaments. Youth. Tournaments. Happening, in Montgomery, County are, they. Well. We're gonna find out because. Murray, County is hosting, any. Starting. July 10th actually, from, July 10th all the way through the end of July we have a tournament every weekend, so where's old pins and needles waiting to, see how, far we get into the recovery. Us. Lacrosse came out with, they. They put together a medical advisory, committee to develop their, nations and you. Know they have their their, reopening. Set up into five stages I, think, we're at like stage two right now but, you know things went quickly so we're gonna hope that we. Can get to a point where we can welcome some of these youth sports events, back it's. Really important, that the kids the, outside and, come. Back to some normalcy but we also have to be very safe and. We. Know parents, are looking forward to those tournaments. They, miss graduations. This year we can't have the missed tournaments, to. Marjorie. Or Susan. Do you either if you have any type, of tournament. Happening. Not. So much a tournament, but we did have a Guinness, Pub run, that, was scheduled, for April. And we. Of. Course they postponed, that I. Believe. It's now, gonna. Be rescheduled, for September. Just, got. A email, just, yester or yeah, yesterday the, Maryland, Cycling, Classic and, of course Leslie. Knows about this that too has been, postponed. Until, next year. And a. Lot. Of the tournaments, that do, take place, within. You, know Baltimore, County I hate to say this but they have moved to Harford County but. We do benefit. From that, because we, do get the the, parents, who stay in the hotels and the hotels overflow, into, Baltimore County, but, done I don't. Know if those tournaments, are taking place this year or not. We. Pretty much lost our June tournaments, and. A. Lot of the July stuff is canceled as well and a large event had just canceled much to our dismay was, the cheerleading, competitions. So. You know that was like ten thousand attendees so we really there's. Nothing, going on in terms of conventions. So, we're, really very, devastated. In terms of group business. There's. A lot of large meeting, space in Maryland, whether, it be conference, centers convention, centers. They will be the last piece of our economy, to recover because of the inability to have large group gatherings. So. That brings me to. Back. To. Wineries. And breweries. A, lot. Of them do have outdoor. Space. Do. We expect to see. Or. Events. Or maybe. Smaller events, happening, there. I, do, know that boardy, they. Have resumed, their, Saturday. Night, jazz, nights. They. Are limiting, the folks that can come in and as Kelly, said you, go online and purchase a ticket, or reservation, so they know exactly how, many they're, gonna have a cut-off of course I think they're limiting, the amount of folks that can come in and, of course everything will be outside. They're. Asking up like as usual. Social. Distancing. Spotter. Pots, are, available. They. Have management, that if you need to go into, the tasting room for, any reason, of. Course six, feet apart must. Wear a mask, so. I do that, do. John vineyards, is doing pretty much the same thing they have their weekend. Events. Of. Music. They. Have put. Out I don't know how many picnic. Tables and it's. Basically, the same so yeah and I know our whiner I mean our breweries. They. Was having curbside, pickup etc, and. There. Is some outside, seating but, you know what I'm, gonna sleep and, of course they're treated, much like the restaurants, they can do outdoor but.
Unquote, I guess drinking, instead of dining, but. Yeah. And. That's any family, did the swing yeah her newest winery that opened last year wind Mill Creek is out in the county and she, became an outdoor dining facility. On Friday, at five o'clock she, had a food truck full of she. Had tables, outside and, she, had spaces, marked off with little circles. Where you could sit so that you'll be socially distanced, apart and as you mentioned if you had to go inside and use the restroom you had to wear a mess so, again you know it's kind of all going back to personal, responsibility and, your, level of comfort as a traveler. It. Often sounds like. Many. Of our businesses. And restaurants not, very creative. Yeah. All. Right let me take one more, question. What. Are you doing, to help. Businesses. Promote, their reopening. Activities. What. Are they asking for you to do I. Can. I'll start with them. Just. On the restaurant, side when. When. Restaurants, closed down. We. Immediately, created a site called moco eats where we, have 1,500 restaurants in the county and so. We. Created a website where the restaurant errors could go in and host. Their. Listing, but also tell. Consumers and, the residents whether or not they were going to provide curbside, service so. We're kind of doing using, that site to do the same thing as a, site, for the residents, to visit to get updates, on who is open who's offering curbside service and, who's offering seating, and you. Know unfortunately. Us. Marketers, are very limited in marketing, dollars right now so, we're really relying on and, I know Leslie can speak after mated that's but we're really relying on social. Media, in. All. Sectors, and in, cross communications, to make sure that we're getting the word out to the. Residents. In regionally so that we can get people to these establishments. To help them Leslie. You have anything you want to add. Yeah. And I think to, your point you. Know social, media this is really, the, perfect opportunity to do things on social media I know some folks like to stay off of it and everything but it's, a really great way that doesn't cost anything. To. Help with these openings. It's, also, something. That we do, as also PR professionals, is working with the media I mean I know we we spoke earlier in the in the panel about. Some. Of the I guess misperceptions. That the media do you put out there but you know again that's part, of our responsibility. Is to try to get out ahead of those so you know we've been working a lot with our local media. And broadcast, stations, to promote a lot of the positive stories that are out there in. Early, on in the kovat situation, the, distilleries, weren't, producing the liquor they were using it to make hand sanitizers, and working with a lot of the local officials. And. The hospitals, and the medical teams to provide those. Supplies. To them so you, know for us helping, these businesses, of course is our priority, and again focusing. On the local communities. And for. The folks you. Know out there and all the Maryland residents, is support. Your local, communities. And businesses, because, without, that then, the visitors won't be coming in if they don't see the stability. In. These local towns and communities you. Know it's it's it's hard out there so, we really just need to focus on the messaging, and that we're open, I mean that's been sort of the tagline, that's being used I mean the governor also uses you know open for business the, state tourism office we you know we constantly, say you know we're open for you we're open for it we're open for everything, so, it's. As, long as folks are ready and willing, again. Just whatever, your concrete level is I. Think it's just really getting that message out there and, for those businesses, that are in need and help you. Know we're, all in the same boat here across, the board so I think there's you're seeing a little bit more of that community.
Strength. That's, happening you know across sectors, and across in the industry, which, is really great and I think a lot, of these folks have been teaming up together so, you're even seeing some of the restaurants that are teaming up with other businesses. And offering, joint. Curbside, pickups. It's. Really great and it's a time to be creative and I think that's where everybody's, kind of at right now is, looking. For another way to kind of pivot and evolve I. Think, if they can kind of get over that hump then, they're, seeing the success on the other side and. Louise. Just to touch on the point that you said about the creativeness, and. Like, Leslie said I've been in touch with the media you know to get out and cover some of our more, creative. Restaurant, tours for. Example, lips Grill there, during, this was during curbside, and you, know pickup. They. Were coming, out in costumes, so it was like oh let's see who's coming down now so. And they you know and they geared some of them towards the children, I saw Elsa, frozen, come, out and. And. Boardy, they have a touch-free flight. Of wine. Tasting, and. I don't know who did this but they have created it's like a little holder. And. The wine sits, in six. Wines did you get to taste and they, bring it out to you you put it on your table, they take the holder away and it's. All touch free outdoors. So. Yeah they're all coming up with with the different creative, things to do you they have to it's just. You. Got to do it and yeah so I do you, know make touch with the media you, know present, these you know stories. To them as well as our haitai, our Facebook, has been crazy so. I must, post about 10 a day on there just to you, know let the folks know who's open, serving. What what you know what's going on with our our poor little museums. That haven't open yet but you know keep everyone, posted. And. We're doing right we're. Doing much of the same with all the social media one, of the things that we did early on was we. Recognize the fact that we have to make sure that everybody feels comfortable, enough to travel so we, went to their business partners and took little three-second, clips of them with their with, their protocols, their masks their signs and, we created videos little, short videos that show the protocols, that are in place and, then, we've been posting those out all over digital. Places. One, of the things we did early on just Kelly we created, a page where the local restaurant source could go and put their daily deals up and now, we have an outdoor dining list so all of those lists we've, actually created. A pretty little flyer that we send to the hotels and then, the hotels are posting those on their web on their print, desk so that when guests check in they, can see where they're supposed to go for the latest and greatest list and. Then we're also encouraging. The hotels to go. Back to the people who may have cancelled over the last 810 weeks sanim. We miss you we want to see you emails and give them a really dynamite, offer, that they can't refuse. And but. More importantly, when, they do pleasing, emails, out to their guests you may have cancelled or even to any potential, guests they, have got to show everything. That they've put into place to, make the guests safe and to make the employees safe so they're listing, everything they're doing like. You may expect, housekeeping. To be different, during your stay rather, than putting the housekeeper's, in the rooms every, single day we. Might just put the housekeepers in upon. The checkout so that there's limited interaction, among people is really the goal of all, of this so. I. Think. The most important, thing that we're doing is we're encouraging our, businesses, to communicate, so, they've got to communicate what the protocols, are that are in place they've got to communicate what the deals are they've, got to communicate, positive.
Stories That they've done. Like. One of the things that we did early, on was we. Needed, a mental wellness counseling. Fund. So, that any hospitality. Worker, needed. Mental health counseling, could, go to our local. Center. And get free mental health counseling. So, we've done we did that early on their. Law. Workers. So, really it's just been, a matter of. Completely. Working. Together to. As a community figure. Out how to get through this and yeah. Shout out to mark McDowell, of Wroclaw, he's. One of our really innovative, restaurant tours so it's actually he Steve Murphy and Chris Reda who, are all taking you alum and they have ropewalk, you, also have alley-oops, uptown, that they just opened and in the middle of opening alley-oops, Midtown. Which i can see from my office window and, it's gonna be a really awesome place. Fortunately. They're very smart guys so they figured out how to, find. The PPP, funding, now of course the funding, from the government is running, it so that's another thing that our communities. Have been faced with, wow that PPP, money is running out and you have to spend it in a certain amount of weeks there's, eggs of strings attached to some of these monies so, you. Know many, different pieces to this puzzle it's, not just about we. Gotta make sure everybody's safe there's, just so many pieces of this puzzle. Alright. We're also seeing, a few other restaurants. Here owned by alumni. Margery, I think. We, have Mother's, Grill, in York County that's. Dave, rather, and then. Brad. Reader, at, readers. Trap, House. Melanie. Wagner. At. Charles. Village pub, we, all. Hang. Out in Charles Village pub didn't we a. Little. Shout out today, from mothers grill today. Dave, was, on midday Maryland, on WMAR. Talking. About of course what else how. For dining, you know and curbside, pickup, and, actually. Dave if you can hear my. DVR do so I'll be looking at it it came on at noon but I'll also post it on Facebook. See. Another free advertisement. We always look for free. Very. Good day thanks, for doing that, we're. About, to, wrap up. But. Before we go. What's, one, final. Piece of advice, you'd. Like to give the audience or, a takeaway. What would you like them to. To. Know. Would say call before you go anywhere just to be on the safe side. And. I, think. Jenna's, gonna send out all those links if you're unsure check, those links and just. Call, before you go. Aren't, you Kelly. By. Local, travel. Can. You hear me by local, travel, regional. Very. Good and, Susan. Exactly. I, was definitely gonna hit, the you've got to stay in Maryland, there, are so many amazing, places, to see and lots, of things to do tons of nature trails I personally. Love to just go get a carryout meal and sit on the beach and watch the ocean very relaxing, and. Leslie. What, would you like to tell us yeah. I agree, um is the perfect opportunity to, check, out all those local, places that you just never had the time to do or go to that, are all pretty, much in your backyard and, you, know support those local businesses.
It's. Great opportunity, to do that and take. Our road trips get inspired lots, of virtual things online just, again know before you go and just double check I like. That know before, you go, that's. An easy one to remember. Well. Thank, you all very. Much. I'm, glad with us today I think, the people that had, the questions. They, sent, in and, I'll. Turn it back over to Jenna. Thank. You panelists and thank you Louise for going through some of those questions, I did, see one question pop, in that I just want to give panelist. A chance to answer if you have a second, it just, seems to be that we're, looking for maybe some virtual resources, that are available to share with some. Possible. Attendees, at colleges. That we're trying to recruit to the Baltimore, area so, there are there any virtual, tours that that can be provided of the Baltimore County area of Baltimore City or, any of your other respective, areas to. Try to entice visitors and. Also students, to come to campus. I'll. Give that one to Leslie. Visit. Maryland org our website we have a listing, of, just. A number, of different virtual experiences. That a lot of these, museums. The traction, site, even. Outdoor, recreational. Places. That you, can kind, of get a great. Just. Look at everything and then even our we, talked, about our scenic byways earlier, and some of the road trips we have some really great videos on, a number of our byways which, is again, an opportunity we're, kind of looking at it as like taking a virtual road trip that kind of gives you a deeper look into the landscape and some of the activities, even though all, open at the moment but, they, are there so for, folks who are recruiting, it it gives you a great taste of just. What's out there just, by watching these videos. Thank. You Leslie. So. I want to thank everyone for joining us today for the panel discussion on tourism in Maryland after koban 18 thank you to Louise and all of our panelists, I really. Enjoy this this, is the talk and I know a, lot of other people appreciate, it as well as we move into the summer travel season, if. You can see in your window right now here's a list of all different tourism, resources that are available for, both the state and then also county levels you can also follow the, different counties and state on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and, their handles are listed in your window as well. We. Are actually working on a restaurant, panel that we're hoping that will go live. I guess in July, so. Please stay tuned for that make. Sure you also follow the TU Alumni Association on our social media channels and on targer connect our alumni community that's, all in your window now you can see those details and. We hope you can join us for another one of our live events and webinars you, can learn more about these, events at alumni talent edu, slash. Events next, Tuesday we're hosting a webinar on real estate in a time of social distancing, with our alumni gursha Porter thank, you so much and we hope to see you next time.
2020-06-17 03:51
