Tourism Industry Adjusting to Pandemic Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting virtually every segment of the Indiana economy, in particular the convention and tourism sector. More than 80,000 Hoosiers depend on tourism business to make a living in central Indiana alone. Visit Indy Senior Vice President Chris Gahl says, despite the crisis, there may be some positive news on the horizon.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business host Gerry Dick, Gahl said the impact on tourism has come quickly.

“Globally, this COVID-19 crisis is impacting tourism first and foremost by conventions coming to a screeching halt, mass gatherings subsiding and being paused, hotels closing, restaurants closing, museums closing and so tourism is really at the epicenter of this crisis and we’re feeling that,” said Gahl. “You’re seeing that with hospitality workers not longer earning paychecks. You’re seeing that with hotels starting to close.”

Gahl says Visit Indy began hearing concern from meeting planners in early March, but the growth of the pandemic response in Indiana changed the organization’s outlook much more rapidly.

“That uptick has been so sizable over the last couple of weeks where we moved form reassuring our customers that we were safe and sound to not being able to welcome them. We understand that; we understand that first and foremost we need to keep the 83,000 men and women in our hospitality industry safe and healthy. We need to keep our visitors healthy. With the Indiana Convention Center closing its doors and having mandates to keep people safe and healthy, by virtue of that, meetings aren’t occurring.”

Visit Indy now is working to figure out how to move conventions that had been slated for this time of year, such as FDIC International, to later in the year. Gahl says accounting for all the moving pieces to do that is incredibly challenging.

“It’s like playing Tetris. Where can you find room for a group like FDIC to be scooted further in the year, to not step on any toes of other existing business while also finding physical space? That’s a logistical feat in and of itself. Now you take the other conventions and meetings that maybe aren’t as big, but still utilize portions of the convention center and hotels, downtown and otherwise, and you try to scoot them further into the year while other major cities are trying to do the same. So it’s very competitive.”

Gahl says there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel looking toward the summer.

“There was a nationwide study done on the appetite of convention meeting planners. When did they foresee looking to postpone and move and start meeting again and it looks like June and July. Now there’s a lot of caveats: what states are doing, what the government will say is what we’re able to do and how we’re able to convene. That marries well with what we’re hearing from the convention and meeting decision makers we’re contacting proactively.”

Gahl says, from a tourism perspective, the second quarter of 2020 will be painful but the question is now if the city and state can salvage into the third and fourth quarters.