Tourism has been negatively affected by COVID-19 throughout the world, and that includes Chautauqua County.

The good news: Local officials believe we will recover. The bad news: It may take more than three years.

During a recent Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting, legislators heard from Andrew Nixon, president and chief executive officer of the Chautauqua County Visitor’s Bureau, about how tourism has fared during this current pandemic.

“Tourism has been extremely negatively affected by the response to the coronavirus,” he said, adding that in 2018 and 2019, Chautauqua County enjoyed two of its strongest years.

Nixon cited a study that shows in 2017 visitors to Chautauqua County spent $262 million. Tourism contributes $19.5 million in local taxes and is 6.5% of the county’s labor force.

But all that changed in 2020. “Businesses now are fighting to survive this year–literally fighting to survive,” he said.

Nixon said many tourism-based businesses are just focusing on getting through to next May, when things could pick up again. The question remains how things will be next spring and summer.

“This recovery, according to travel industry forecasts, is anticipated to take us as long as into late 2023 or early 2024, to get to full recovery,” he said.

In 2019, occupancy tax receipts were $1.8 million.

The money is collected from places like hotels, motels and cottage rentals. Nixon noted that the lodging occupancy level in Chautauqua County for 2020 is still unclear, though the large hotel occupancy level as of the end of July was down 42.2%. He believes that smaller properties such as vacation homes, condos, and cottages will perform significantly better.

Nationally, studies show tourism is down 45% and is expected to drop by $500 billion. Domestic travel has dropped around 40%, while international travel has dropped 75%. “More than a quarter of all leisure and hospitality workers are still unemployed nationwide. That’s really the hardest hit industry,” Nixon said.

Still, Nixon noted our area is faring better than the New York City region and other coastal cities. “Areas like ours, Chautauqua County, most of the rest of Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, they seemed to have fared a little better,” he said.

Nationwide, the short haul, automobile-based travel is generally among the best for tourism during the pandemic. “That means people in cars, traveling not too far away. We’re well positioned for that, so we saw a healthy amount of attention and visitation during the summer,” he said.

But areas that have been hurt include business travel, motor coach tours, weddings banquets and conferences. “They’re mostly on pause or its very small by comparison to what it used to be,” Nixon said, adding that those conferences kept businesses afloat during the off season for tourism.

A nationwide study conducted by MMGY Travel Intelligence shows 75% of those surveyed are tentatively planning on taking a trip by car in the next six months, with 39% of those interviewed saying they’re willing to travel 300 miles or more. “Travelers are looking for short, last minute getaways with 55% booking two- to five-night stays and often booking less than a week in advance,” Nixon said.

Seeing this, the county Visitor’s Bureau is focusing its marketing efforts in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. “Our emphasis has been promote the area as a familiar and comparatively safe destination,” Nixon said. “We’re trying to reach out through email lists and social media to people who have been here before.”

Still, it has been and will continue to be a challenge. “We have less money to work with this year and we anticipate less money next year. We’ve adjusted on the staff level and in the marketing level,” he said.

Committee Chairman Mark Odell thanked Nixon for his presentation. He said he hopes there might be “pent up demand” in the future for vacations and travel. “If we hit it, boy, that would be great next year for 2021,” he said.

Nixon agreed. “We’re going to have to be in front of those people with marketing messages and we also have to be flexible, so again, it’s going to be a lot of social media and digital marketing,” he said.