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Jul 30 2021
Vermont hotel rooms will cost you more
BURLINGTON, Vermont (WCAX) – Vermont continues to gain national attention for having the highest vaccination rate in the country, giving Vermont’s hospitality industry a boost. However, this comes at a cost to visitors, with housing prices rising in some areas.
The nightly rate has increased by about 15-20% over the past two years at the Vermont Hotel in Burlington. Joseph Carton, CEO of Westport Hospitality, owner of the Vermont hotel, says that has been the case for almost everyone in the area. “The volume of people generating is pretty high,” he said. “The rates go up automatically and the competition sort of stays with that.”
Carton said the number of visitors this year is about three times last year. “In the greater Burlington area, the occupancy rate was around 25-30%,” Carton said. “This year it’s in the 80 to 90% range. He also says that events such as weddings postponed from 2020 overlap with this year’s events.
Vermont Tourism and Marketing Commissioner Heather Pelham said the vaccination rate in Vermont could be another reason for the visitor boom. “Now that people are thinking more about where they travel and how they travel, Vermont is well positioned to provide these visitors with a wonderful experience,” she said.
Carton and others in the industry say just because people want to come to Vermont doesn’t mean they’ll be able to. He said that one thing that negatively affects the industry is a shortage of workers. The Vermont hotel is looking for at least 15 more employees. “We have definitely lost customers, there’s no question about it,” Carton said. “Mainly the food and drink side of the business. We operate two restaurants and one is not even open on Mondays and Tuesdays and evenings.
Meanwhile, even as the shortage of workers creates difficulties, Pelham said everyone in the accommodation industry is still working to provide the best service possible. She was unable to provide an exact number of visitors to the state, but said they would help the economy after last year.
Related stories:
With Vermont vax rate approaching 84%, state continues campaign
Vermont tourist season accelerates as labor issues persist
The region’s tourist economy is rebounding
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Aug 1 2021
Vaccinate tour operators, drivers and hotel staff to restore confidence in the tourism sector, according to the Center
New Delhi: With travel, tourism and hospitality among the sectors most affected by the pandemic and in urgent need of a helping hand for a rapid recovery, the Center has called on states to vaccinate tour operators, hotel employees, drivers and other industry stakeholders prioritize restoring confidence in the tourism sector.
“We have agreed with state governments that immunization of all tourism-related stakeholders – be they drivers, tour operators, hotel employees, hotel management – should be taken care of as a priority so that we have a sense of confidence that all stakeholders in the tourism sector are fully vaccinated, ”said Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh.
“It will give a feeling of confidence to customers who want to go to a safe place. If he knows that all the employees and people he is going to meet are fully vaccinated, that will give him a feeling of confidence, ”he added.
As soon as the first cases of coronavirus were reported in early 2020, the tourism industry started to feel the heat. But as the nationwide lockdown was announced in March of last year, the industry has faced the worst crisis in its history. Millions of jobs were immediately lost. With no hope of a quick recovery in sight, a significant number of tour operators have had to close their stores.
According to a study by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), 14.5 million jobs were lost in the first quarter (April to June period) of fiscal year 21, 5.2 million during the second quarter and 1.8 million jobs in the third quarter, compared to around 34.8 million (direct) during the pre-pandemic period of 2019-2020.
The government has given the industry monetary, tax and compliance breaks, but these have been described as grossly insufficient by tour operators and operators, hoteliers and other relevant stakeholders.
Government relief measures include concessional loans under a credit guarantee system, postponement of statutory compliance deadlines and a moratorium on loan repayments.
“Maybe we did not meet the expectations of all stakeholders in society because there were a lot of expectations of additional tax breaks and monetary relief, but the finance ministry and all of us are in. ongoing dialogue and interact with industry. They take all the short-term measures announced, then all the measures to be taken in the medium or long term, ”said the secretary of the Tourism Union at an event organized by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) and Council for the Promotion of Services Exports.
Due to the overall economic slowdown in 2020-21, the tourism economy or tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA) experienced a decrease of 42.8% in the first quarter; 15.5% in Q2 and down 1.1% in Q3, according to NCAER estimate.
Due to a significant drop in tourist arrivals and therefore tourism spending, during the pandemic, TDGVA is estimated to have fallen 93.3% in the first quarter of 2020-21 from its level in the same quarter of l ‘last year. It recovered slightly to decline 79.5% in the second quarter and 64.3% in the third quarter.
The tourism sector began to see green shoots and increased demand during the holiday months of October through December of last year with the sharp drop in Covid cases, but with the onset of the second wave of pandemic in April this year, activities practically came to a halt. Again. It is hoped that the situation will improve with mass vaccination and herd immunity, but many public health experts have warned of a third wave.
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By Kathleen J. Bidwell • Hotel staff •