HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Tulip Time Festival Executive Director Gwen Auwerda is set to meet with festival board members this afternoon, Friday, March 13, 2020, and figure out which contingency plan to follow — at least for now — based on current COVID-19 projections.
“We are contingency planning,” she said. “We started about a week ago with those plans, and we are watching the news daily, as thiings change every hour.”
Hours after she spoke to WHTC Thursday morning (listen to the full interview), state officials announced 10 new presumed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19.
Watching other events getting canceled is more than worrisome — it’s a gut punch, she said.
The Tulip Time Festival is set for it’s 91st year, May 2-10, and brings an estimated $74.8 million to the Holland area in direct, indirect and induced effects, according to the 2018 study by Hope College’s Frost Research Center.
Auwerda is just one of several in the tourism business feeling the effects of the pandemic and making hard decisions.
Courtney Sheffer, West Michigan Tourist Association’s marketing director said she’s been following “many communications from our various partner businesses around West Michigan, all working to keep visitors informed and safe.”
She said restaurants and wineries such as Black Star Farms “are sharing new processes that they have in place for more stringent sanitizing and disinfecting processes for their dining/tasting rooms, with some, like Long Road Distillers, going so far as to remove seats to keep the visitor count down. Others are offering “curbside service,” bringing customers’ order directly to their cars.
Destinations like Grand Rapids Public Museum are adding hand-sanitizing stations and encouraging visitors to stay home if they have any symptoms.
“We’ve seen some larger events cancel to protect the health of the community (including) Michigan Irish Festival St. Patrick’s Day Party,” she said.
“Our business partners are being very open and clear with the steps they are taking to help prevent the spread of this disease.” Sheffer said in an email to WHTC. “We’re seeing them work to communicate in various ways with travelers (through email, social media, websites, etc), and to provide travelers with links on where they can find more information from the state of Michigan, the CDC, etc.”
Sally Laukitis, Holland’s Visitors and Convention Bureau executive director, said corporate travel has been reduced.
“That means people aren’t coming to our town, staying in our hotels,” she said. “So, we’re just trying to stragegize, and see what that looks like.” (Listen to her full interview.)
