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CVB April Virtual Meeting

Posted: 4/16/2020

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On Thursday, April 16th, The Lake George Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau hosted their second monthly CVB meeting via Zoom conference call. There were 31 in attendance from across the region from various properties, sporting venues and we were grateful that Supervisors Legett, Bramer, Hogan, and Strough were able to join us for this meeting.

For anyone who missed the CVB April meeting, here is a quick recap of some of the topics discussed.

The CVB currently has a survey for business owners, specifically in the hospitality industry, regarding cancellation policies. This will give the CVB a better understanding of what is already being done about cancellation fees and policies and help us come up with a plan on the best course of action for all of our hospitality partners. If you have not already had the chance to take this survey, please feel free to fill it out here. http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eh0nn7sdk8ow30fg/a017ck91r855p/greeting

Attached are also the results of the economic impact of COVID-19 has had on local businesses and lodging. There are many challenges for the hospitality and tourism industry, as well as many unknowns, and the CVB and Chamber of Commerce would like your feedback to be able to plan various strategies and models as we move forward towards recovery.

Based on the Governor’s briefing on 4/15/20, the Governor announced that he will issue an Executive Order requiring all people in public to wear a mask or face covering in all situations where a person may not be able to maintain social distancing. The Executive Order will be effective Friday, April 17th. At this time there will not be a penalty for non-compliance, but if there is not widespread compliance a civil penalty may be applied. The requirement will be enforced at the local level. In addition, the Governor announced today that the PAUSE will continue through May 15th. This is in coordination with a few other Eastern States. As social distancing continues another month, the State still plans to phase in more businesses, hopefully starting April 29th. The State will look into current situations and adjust these dates as they seek fit. The total number of confirmed cases in New York has reached over 220,000. Please visit their website for further updates. https://www.ny.gov/

Masks may not always be available in stores due to high demand. The CVB was happy to hear that many people in our area have already begun using these precautionary measures. If you have not had the chance to order face masks for your business, it was suggested during our call that you may be able to find some here:https://www.driscollfoods.com/

For anyone who is looking to make their own mask, but do not know how to, here are some resources to help:

In regards to the timeline of when things will return to normal, it appears that the State is looking into options to phase in certain aspects of the economy a little bit at a time. During the phased reopening the State will weigh factors for opening businesses including, how “essential” the business service or product is, and what is the risk of “infection spread” of the business. The state will then use a matrix to determine which business can start to open starting with low risk highly essential businesses.

A big question in the April CVB meeting was what is still going on? What is cancelled or postponed? The Lake George area has seen several events and festivals cancel for Spring and early to mid summer, while other big events are simply hanging in, trying to see how the news changes as we get closer to the summer. Some of the main challenges for us and for our industry is that no one can predict when things will “get back to normal,” and protocols for large scale events and social gatherings may be drastically different than in years past, but the ability to pivot, and be resources for our community is what we hope to continue to do to ensure the survivability of these events in our region.

The CVB is working collaboratively with event managers at Americade, ADK Wine & Food Festival, Lake George Music Festival, LARAC, Prime Time Lacrosse and Firecracker Baseball to find ways to keep the events on the 2020 calendar, and is also continuing discussions with local government officials to ensure there are open conversations about fulfilling the needs of the event managers, and balancing the economics of the events. Issues facing the events include potential new protocols for social distancing, large group gatherings, face mask requirements, handwashing stations and several others, but these are all being taken into consideration when looking at the overall logistics of the events.

As stated before, New York State is looking at phasing in the economy a little as a time starting on or near April 29th, with the new PAUSE date extended out to May 15th. The CVB/Chamber are well aware of not only the concerns relating to the events, but also for our local business and property owners who may be reliant on J1 employees this summer, new sanitary protocols and other COVID19-related issues which can impact the local businesses. As we get information, we shall continue to share that with you to keep all informed.

In addition to ongoing outreach and research, our marketing team and Amanda Metzger have done some incredible work over the last month, creating blogs, sending out information, keeping up with all of our social media and website updates, and creating incredible content, including two new promotional videos for the meetings/conventions and sports markets.

Feel free to take a look here:

CVB Meetings Inspirational Video

CVB Sports Inspiration Video

Additionally, please check out any of these sources for useful information:

Lake George Regional Chamber/CVB website – COVID19- https://lakegeorgechamber.com/covid/ -
NYSHTA website - https://nyshtanyassoc.wliinc22.com//external/wccontrols/tmp/message-preview_637210814371765737.html
Warren County COVID19 information hub - https://warren-county-ny-covid-19-warrencountyny.hub.arcgis.com/?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=Spring_2020_Newsletter&utm_medium=email
Arrivalist Daily Travel Index – a free resource which Arrivalist’s Daily Travel Index measures consumer road trips of 50 miles or more in all 50 U.S. states. Data is drawn from a panel of GPS signals representing road trips taken by car. The insights have been prepared to help travel marketers and other industry professionals gauge fluctuations in drive market trips in any of the 50 U.S. states. https://www.arrivalist.com/daily-travel-index/
SKIFT article – Corona Virus and Events – Outlook and Recovery Timeline – (interesting article on the realities of what we may be faced for future event planning) https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/events-coronavirus?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=86284451&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-95e23zcWCwKAjM_NGUOfQ4XAD2MLO2tLc7f-r1LjYklvkk3f2OG4YV7gHDKTDbRqq03UTzrOiUkeFYyqUUFHsum8fVmQ&_hsmi=86284451&fbclid=IwAR0UZGznETDX_TfJh2t0UeX_fvB0_le1oTR4N2jMhCa20OxEfqtixt-43gw
COVID19 and youth sports- https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/coronavirus-and-youth-sports/#frequently-asked-questions
GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR RESTAURANTS – Restaurant Strong Fund. Samuel Adams is offering a $1,000 grant to restaurant workers now in 20 states. Samuel Adams and The Greg Hill Foundation are bringing the successful Restaurant Strong Fund to 20 total states to aid the restaurant workers impacted by the Covid-19 closures. Following the success of the Massachusetts launch in mid-March, Samuel Adams is donating over $2,000,000 to kickstart funding in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont.

Applications available up until Friday April 24th:

Form:

https://thegreghillfoundation.submittable.com/submit/163383/restaurant-strong-grant-application.

REQUIREMENTS:

- Full-time restaurant employee (Min. 30 hours/week, can be multiple restaurants)

- Employed for 3 months or longer at the same location

- Worked in a restaurant, bar, cafe or nightclub

- Submit the last two pay stubs received

The Lake George Regional CVB and Chamber look forward to continuing to work with our local partners through these unprecedented times to continue to build tourism in our region.

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