Historically, New Mexico’s hospitality industry has been the second largest economic sector in the state, employing more than 90,000 people and contributing hundreds of millions in tax revenue every year. Unfortunately, the industry has been hard hit by the COVID-19 health crisis.
With ongoing travel restrictions and occupancy limits, our businesses have had to scale back significantly, and thousands of our valued workers have been laid off. According to economic projections, the industry will lose more than 50 percent of its total revenue in 2020.
In the face of this economic devastation, hospitality and tourism businesses have committed to respect and follow the relevant Public Health Orders. The industry has worked tirelessly to create the safest possible environment for our employees, our communities and our guests.
We helped develop industry-specific COVID-safe practices and have worked diligently to promote the New Mexico Safe Promise and the New Mexico Safe Certified program. We have come together as an industry to encourage strict compliance with COVID-safe practices and the relevant public health orders throughout our member businesses and the broader business community.
Our industry has been a leading driver of economic growth in our state for many years, and we remain committed to following applicable rules and public health orders. However, if some of the relevant state restrictions are not adjusted, the industry as we know it will not survive.
In Santa Fe, this reality has been felt more than anywhere with our hotel occupancy percentages dropping to the 20s and 30s in a season when they typically run at maximum capacity and generate significant revenues to carry through slower times of the year. The same is true for our many restaurants, art galleries and other retailers that rely on tourism spending for survival. Small businesses are hanging on by a thread in hopes the severe restrictions deemed so critical to containing the viral spread can be eased up just a bit to allow for some carefully planned level of visitation to creep back into our economy.
When the time is right, our industry can and will be one of the first to help the state safely and responsibly restart the economy. However, it will be much more difficult, and much more expensive, to effectively market New Mexico as one of the safest places to visit if we continue to tell visitors they are simply not welcome in New Mexico.
There are ways to protect the health and safety of the public while easing some of the current restrictions. No one action will save the hospitality industry, but easing the 14-day quarantine order (the most restrictive order of its kind in the country), is something we should consider. Not only are there less restrictive options, like pre-arrival negative tests for all travelers, limiting the quarantine to air travel only or limited quarantines for travelers from areas with high infection rates, each of those options still offer significant protections and can be implemented gradually in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state guidelines.
With these factors in mind, our industry believes it is critical to ease the current quarantine order, so we can promote responsible travel that encourages visitors to respect our community and to follow safe practices.
To that end, we very much look forward to working with the Governor’s Office to develop solutions that allow our travel and tourism economy to reopen in a safe and responsible manner. The industry cannot survive a broad ban on out-of-state travel much longer.
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August 23, 2020 at 10:00AM
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New Mexico tourism industry needs relief | My View - Santa Fe New Mexican
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