Resort Towns Ask: Will There Be Summer?

Outer Banks beach.

Locally, the cities of Williamsburg and Virginia Beach rely heavily on tourism for a large part of their economy.  To the south in North Carolina's Outer Banks, dependence on tourism is even more significant.  With Memorial Weekend the weekend after next, the big issue facing businesses within the tourism industry is whether or not there will be a summer tourist season and, if there is, what will it look like. With over three weeks of paid vacation left of the year, the husband I find ourselves with no travel plans for the first time in years - our October cruise was cancelled - and left without two months of income from the husband's salon which just reopened under a whole new mode of operation: open more days, stylists working staggered schedules to keep the numbers of people in the place at any one time reduced to less than 10 people, constant sanitizing, and many client in-salon perks eliminated, with no one knowing how long this "new normal" will last. Will we travel this summer?  I honestly do not know.  In Virginia Beach hoteliers are facing an even more daunting scenario as they wonder who will visit the area given the economic stress so many unemployed people face and fears of exposure to the covid-19 virus.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the questions facing the tourism industry around the country.  Here are highlights: 

In summer resort towns across the United States, livelihoods for the year are built in the 15 weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It is during those 15 weeks that tourists from around the country and the world arrive to bask on the beach and gather for festivals and weddings. And it is during those three months that tour operators, hoteliers, innkeepers, restaurant employees and others earn the bulk of their income.

But this year, with Memorial Day — the kickoff for summer — approaching, there will be fewer guests to welcome and likely no sizable weddings or festivals to host. Business owners in resort areas, from Cape Cod, Mass., to Lake Chelan, Wash., say that as the start of summer approaches, they are having to face the difficult reality that little money will be made this year.

Between canceled trips and uncertainty about how willing and financially able people will be to travel once shelter-in-place rules are lifted, business owners say that even if summer travel starts late, it won’t make up for losses that have already been incurred.

Traffic to resort towns will likely consist of local visitors from nearby cities and towns for day or weekend trips, rather than for longer stays, business owners speculated. Many also said they expect to see few, if any, international visitors.

Public health is essential and should be prioritized, Ms. Rishel and other business owners said, but business survival is also important. And so resort towns are grappling with the cost-benefit analysis of reopening and potentially having the virus spread versus remaining closed and potentially shuttering doors.

In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, tourists will be allowed to return and stay in hotels beginning on May 16, but life will be different. Social-distancing rules will have to be followed; businesses will limit the number of people to 50 percent of their usual capacity; sanitizing stations will be at every turn; and staff at hotels will wear masks.

“Even if we can’t do 100 percent of our normal business, we are just excited to be back in business and have a chance at survival,” said John Harris, a co-founder of Kitty Hawk Kites, which offers adventure tours and sells and rents equipment for various outdoor activities. “Staying closed isn’t an option for a community that’s 90 percent dependent on tourism.” Mr. Harris said about 80 percent of his revenue is made between Memorial Day and the end of September.

In New Jersey, where beaches will be open for Memorial Day, with restrictions, and hotels will reopen on June 1, the mood among some innkeepers and hoteliers is also cautiously optimistic. . . . . Who will come and how many of them will come is the unknown at this point, but we’re getting calls for reservations and people are reaching out on Facebook, so it looks like we will have our summer.”

“I’m excited to see people, but I’m also being terrified because it’s too soon to reopen,” she said. “I don’t think the state has met all the standards they said we’d need to meet before we open. We are still seeing new cases, and the rules about how to operate just aren’t clear.”

Ms. Gutlon, as well as other innkeepers and owners in North Carolina, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Washington state, said that they are trying to figure out the rules for guest numbers, social distancing and serving food on their properties. For example, she said, no more than 10 people can gather, but the inn typically has about 16 guests in its eight rooms, in addition to staff — so would filling rooms be breaking the rules?

In Massachusetts, where short-term rentals (including hotels) have been banned since March, the lack of direction from authorities led 26 Martha’s Vineyard innkeepers and hotel operators to write a letter to Gov. Charlie Baker’s advisory task force earlier this month, asking for guidance about reopening.

Hospitality businesses are also thinking about how the industry has been fundamentally changed by the coronavirus. When tourists return, there will be no hugging and no touching; smiles will be hidden behind masks; turndown service likely won’t exist; and many travelers will be afraid of staying in hotels where they don’t control cleaning procedures or know who stayed there before they did.

“Will people want to pay hundreds of dollars to take their own sheets off their bed or to sit in their room and eat all their meals there?” asked Ms. Gutlon of the White Doe Inn in the Outer Banks. She and others said that those questions will also affect people’s willingness to travel from afar. Guests who usually book for more than just a few days have all canceled their trips this year, she said.

Carol Watson, one of the owners of the Captain Farris House, an inn on Cape Cod, said she is already feeling the loss of international visitors.

Memorial Day, Ms. Watson said, is the real kickoff for the summer season, and she would normally be preparing for a revolving door. Instead, she is spending her time on conference calls with other business owners and a marketing company, trying to stay on top of what’s going on and updating policies and cleaning and sanitizing procedures.

“Everybody is frustrated with where we’re at and we’re all worried about this summer, but we don’t want to see people sick,” she said. “We don’t want to see people dying.”

Sunday Evening Reflections

Our photo that appeared in the Daily Press

This weekend was incredibly busy and once again reflected the almost bi-polar reactions to gays in Virginia and Hampton Roads in particular.   In today's Daily Press (subscription only) the boyfriend and I were one of three same sex couples featured in an article on gay marriage and the rapidly changing legal landscape.  While some of the comments on the online version of the article that began on page 1 of the front section of the paper were enlightened, some were not - one suggested next we'd be demanding incest with our children be legal - and reflect what in my view is the growing separation between the views of the educated and more affluent toward gays and the diametrically opposite views held by the uneducated and lower classes.  It's as if today's lower class whites - much like the lower class whites of 50+ years ago who were openly racist - need someone to look down upon in order to feel good about themselves.  Once it was anti-black discrimination that inflated otherwise pathetic egos, today it's homophobia that has become the route to a sense of superiority for those who otherwise have little or nothing about which to feel superior.  And disturbingly, those who have to cling to their white skin and heterosexuality to feel good about themselves are the core of today's Republican Party of Virginia.

Why do I say this?  Because without exception, the boyfriend and I have found acceptance and friendship with educated and affluent residents of Hampton Roads.  Yesterday we were included in the funeral service for the mother of a friend at historic Bruton Parish in Colonial Williamsburg (amazingly her mother had lived to be over 102 and had been born just 8 days after the Titanic sank).  The ceremony was followed by a family dinner where, as is the norm, we were included as part of the extended family.  Then today, we held a "meet and greet" for two candidates for Hampton City Council at our home and almost everyone (i) had seen the article in the paper and (ii) was overflowing in their congratulations and best wishes for our wedding next week - including an Air Force general and his wife.  The new norm even in Hampton, Virginia is for the educated and middle/upper middle class to accept gays and gay marriage without a moment's hesitation.

One has to wonder if homophobia will increasing be confined to the lower classes and the uneducated.  As noted before on this blog, fundamental religious belief tracks directly with lower levels of education - Episcopalians and Evangelical Lutherans are at the opposite end of the spectrum - with Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses at the very bottom of the heap.  I'd be interested in readers' experiences.

 

Over Hyped Storm Threat Leaves Some Many Power

View from Norfolk towards Portsmouth

One thing that one can always count on is that the local news media always over hypes weather threats and disasters.  Last week's non-event in the form of the years first tropical storm was a case in point as has been today's much hyped severe thunderstorm threat.  Less than one tenth of local residents have lost power and the severe winds, flooding, etc. simply have not occurred for the most part.  Our home did lose power, but with our installation of a whole house generator last summer, we have suffered little or no inconvenience (It's actually the first time the generator has run during a power outage - during Hurricane Sandy, we never lost power).  It's a strange experience to have one's home fully lighted up while most of the neighborhood is in the dark save for the other homes with automatic whole house generators.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on today's so far less than spectacular weather event:

A massive storm system that moved through Virginia caused thousands of power outages, knocked down tree limbs and is responsible for one death in Richmond.

The National Weather Service issued several severe thunderstorm warnings for the region that expired before 7 p.m. A severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 10 p.m., meaning the potential exists for the development of thunderstorms that could produce large hail or damaging winds.

Dominion Virginia Power reported more than 104,000 customers in southeastern Virginia were without power about 8 p.m. Most of the outages were concentrated in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and on the Peninsula, according to a news release from spokeswoman Bonita Harris. The most significant problem was reportedly in Williamsburg where a large tree landed on a substation, knocking out power to about 10,000 customers.

Dominion crews were still assessing damage at 8 p.m. and no estimated repair times were available.
More than 307,000 homes and businesses were without power in the whole state.

Prior to the storm, the region was seeing sweltering temperatures. Highs today were in the mid- to upper 90s, with high humidity making it feel like 100 to 105 degrees.

Yes, people need to be warned of dangers.  But in this storm prone area, constantly crying wolf leads to people ignoring warnings in actual severe weather threats.  The result, of course, is that people do not take proper precautions and lives are needlessly lost.

Our 20 K generator

House Republicans Meet at a Former Slave Plantation to Practice Talking to Black People

UPDATED: NBC News has also picked up on the irony of where the House Republicans are meeting to discuss how to better attract minority voters.  One GOP spokesman described the party's problems as follows:

the GOP had a “good message” for minorities but had suffered from a recent "bad communications."

When are these people going to stop drinking Kool-Aid and face reality?

This article in Gawker was just too good to pass up because it underscores how clueless the Republican party is when it comes to facing the reality of why minorities are voting for Democrats by huge margins.  The conventional wisdom in the GOP - if one can credit any form of wisdom to today's GOP - is that the party has a messaging problem.  Never mind that it is the GOP's POLICIES and open racism and bigotry that are the real problem, not poor "messaging."  Efforts to disenfranchise non-whites, slash programs that disproportionately aid minorities and the admission of those who can only be described as white supremacists into positions within the GOP have nothing to do with the Party's problem of attracting minority votes in the minds of these greed and religious extremism drive party apparatchiks.  So as the House Republicans gather to discuss their so-called messaging problem, where better to meet than at a posh resort located on a former slave plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia.  For those not familiar with this area, the Kingsmill Resort and its affiliated gated community, are very nice - and very, very white with most minorities to be seen only working as servants or waitstaff (some things never really change in Virginia) - and it is located on lands once part of a slave owning James River plantation. Here's how Gawker describes the GOP soul searching gathering:

The House Republicans are holding their annual winter retreat in quaint tourist village Williamsburg, Virginia, this weekend in order to recuperate and prepare for upcoming legislative battles. Besides partaking in discussions about the debt ceiling and gun restrictions, GOP congressmen and women will also be getting schooled in the fine art of how to have "successful communication with minorities and women."

One might presume that people elected to high office in America have at least a general understanding of how to talk to and about minorities and women without saying unimaginably offensive things, but one would be wrong. Far too many Republicans have a remarkable way of saying the absolutely worst thing time and again about everything from rape to Kwanzaa. Sadly, a lesson about why it's wrong to equivocate about a woman being raped or why it's not a great idea to make all your House committee chairs white men is exactly what the GOP needs.

And what better place to talk about making inroads with oppressed groups than in a room named after a famous Williamsburg plantation [i.e., Burwell Plantation], located in the tony Kingsmill Resort, which itself is on the site of another plantation? The GOP has heard your complaints, blacks and Latinos and women, and they're going to try to suss it out while sitting atop dead slave bones.

The link in the article takes you to a page from the Colonial Williamsburg website that looks at the slave owning Burwell family.  One part of the right up is telling: "The seven lists of slaves recorded by four members of the Burwell family between 1746 and 1839 fill ten pages in the Ann Powell Burwell Commonplace Book." Another telling passage:

[T]he widow Burwell noted the births of five children born to four of her enslaved women in Williamsburg between March 1754 and May 1756. She made these entries on the same page that Armistead Burwell used to list “my house Negro’s” in July 1746. There is no evidence that either Armistead or Christian Burwell purchased slaves for their Williamsburg household. The number of urban slaves grew through natural increase. Christian Burwell added a comment below her husband’s 1746 list of “Negro’s sent to Roanoke.” She noted, “The Negroe’s in Lunnenburg 1764 are 18 men and 17 Women.” There were also an unknown number of enslaved children on the family’s Southside property. 

In short the Burwell Plantation Room couldn't be a more appropriate place for the House Republicans to meet since many likely yearn for the "good old days" when the Burwell family was at the height of its wealth and power.

Another Wedding Wedding Weekend

UPDATED: The wedding was indeed a wonderful affair and the ceremony in the Wren Chapel (pictured above) was beautifuly done. The Chapel is part of the Sir Christopher Wren building at William & Mary and dates from 1695, making it the oldest university building in the United States. The reception back at the Williamsburg Winery was both elegant and a great party. As is usual, the boyfriend had many clients there besides the bride.

The boyfriend is doing hairstyling for another wedding this weekend and we are currently in the Aquitaine Suite (pictured above) at Wedmore Place at the Williamsburg Winery where he is doing the bride and wedding party's hair. The wedding itself will be at the Wren Chapel at the College of William & Mary, with the reception back at the Winery this evening. We have visited Wedmore place before for another wedding a little over a year ago and it's gorgeous. The website describes the Inn as follows:
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Each room was themed in the style of a different European province, not only in the selection of colors and furnishings, but also the wall hangings and decoration. All rooms have a fireplace, individual floor designs from Spanish tiles to walnut parquet, 10’ ceilings and king size beds. The style of each room reflects not only a different geographical area but also different periods of history; from the Corinthian room inspired by the classic Greek forms of Antiquity featuring a large marble statue, Corinthian columns, large white ceramic tiling on the floor, to the rustic room recalling the Shakespearean times with a four poster bed next to the eaves in the wood paneled Cotswold room.
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I highly recommend the Inn to anyone traveling to the Williamsburg area who want an elegant experience and close proximity to the historic sites at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown.

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The wedding and reception should be a good time and as always, the boyfriend's clients are very welcoming and accepting of us as a couple - always include us in the guest list. Its our opportunity to interact with other guests and potentially open minds to what a gay couple is really like as opposed to the stereotypes our enemies try to project of us. I continue believe that being out and genuine are the strongest weapons against bigotry.

Virginia Tourism Sagging: Meanwhile Gay Dollar Rejected

Today's Virginian Pilot carries yet another article on the sagging fortunes of Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and other southeastern Virginia tourist destinations. Throughout the severe recession only one travel market segment has held constant - indeed it has grown. As I have written before, that is the LGBT travel market. One marketing research report described the gay travel segment as follows:
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Defining the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) consumers could result in a windfall for the mainstream travel industry, which has been experiencing a period of slowed growth. This consumer research confirms that the LGBT travelers are traveling often and spending more on travel. . . . . LGBT travelers reported spending 25% more on leisure travel than heterosexual travelers. Ninety-six percent of respondents had taken at least one short leisure trip in the previous year (compared to just 56% of mainstream travelers) and 98% of respondents indicated that a destination’s gay-friendly reputation influenced their decision to visit.
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And Virginia's reaction to this reality? It remains a thoroughly anti-gay state without employment protections for LGBT employees, restrictions on employers' ability to provide domestic partner benefits to employee spouses/partners, denies same sex relations ships any legal validity. In contrast to say Key West - which is amazingly LGBT friendly - or Vancouver which is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics that likewise embraces diversity and tolerance, Virginia has little to offer LGBT tourists when it comes to a welcoming atmosphere. In fact, tourists flying into Norfolk International Airport are greeted on one concourse by a huge display for Pat Robertson's Regent University, complete with a roughly eight foot by five foot image of Robertson himself. How many gays are going to find that welcoming? None, in my estimation. Bigotry has its price and wonderful historic sites, beautiful hotels like the one at Williamsburg Winery, and great restaurants do not out weigh a poisonous legal atmosphere. Will Virginia ever learn this simple truth? Most likely no time soon as far too much of the state's laws remain dictated by the Family Foundation and similar extreme anti-gay organizations of which the state has far too many. Here are some highlights from the Pilot article:
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Williamsburg reported selling 660,000 general-admission tickets in 2009, down from about 707,000 in the previous year. That was a smaller decline than the 9 percent drop in 2008. . . . Colonial Williamsburg cut about 300 jobs in the past year and a half and now has a staff of 2,650, spokesman Tom Shrout said.
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Colonial Williamsburg is hardly the only tourist destination that reported financial declines for 2009. Two weeks ago, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation reported that attendance fell more than 11 percent at Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center.

Norfolk and Williamsburg Stop the H8 Protests

Despite not the best of weather, folks turned out for the Stop the H8 protests in both Norfolk and Williamsburg, Virginia. I have posted photos above from the Norfolk event and below from the Williamsburg event which was at College Corner at the College of William and Mary at the intersection of Jamestown, Richmond and Duke of Gloucester streets. The location gets lots of tourist traffic and is highly visible. The Norfolk event was at the City Hall building and then moved to the corner of St. Paul's Boulevard and Waterside Drive (the crowd trying to stay in groups of 50 so as to avoid the need from a permit). More photos from the Norfolk event which include many people that I know can be found here.