Tourism Industry Resources

Several nationwide studies have been implemented to track traveler sentiment as it relates to the COVID-19 health crisis and their future travel plans. Here are the most recent results:

Destinations Analysts – June 16 Update on COVID-19 Impact on American Travel

Longwoods International – Travel Sentiment Study Wave 10
Fielded May 13, 2020
U.S. National Sample of 1,000 adults 18+

The CARES Act, the largest economic relief package in our nation’s history, was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and includes major provisions U.S. Travel fought for to deliver economic support to travel businesses, travel workers and their families. Here is a link for eligibility details: https://www.ustravel.org/toolkit/covid-19-cares-act-relief-resources

• Provides loans of 2.5 times payroll up to $10 million, grants and tax breaks to businesses large and small
• Provides for loan forgiveness for expenditures made for payroll, rent and other costs
• Payments of up to $1,200 to millions of Americans
• Bolsters unemployment benefits
• Provides financial support to states, local governments and the health care system

• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering Economic Injury Disaster Loans to businesses that suffer substantial economic impact as a result of COVID-19. Generally, these low-interest loans provide working capital to assist small businesses in meeting financial obligations and operating expenses. 
  • This slide deck can guide you through the disaster loan program and includes step-by-step instructions on completing the application.
• The Washington State SBDC is offering webinars and other online training opportunities for the SBA application process.
• The SBA has amended its original disaster declaration to apply to all Washington small businesses, regardless of county.
• The Department of Commerce is working with the federal SBA to secure loan assistance and has information for businesses experiencing trade impacts.
• The Federal Government has launched a comprehensive webpage for small business owners to research their options.

The Association of Washington Business has created a Rebound and Recovery Tool Kit to help Washington State employers reopen their doors. Find a variety of guidance and resources you need to prepare your workplace and safely welcome back employees and customers.

State launches interactive data tool to help leaders plan and track recovery efforts across regions, sectors and demographics

Leaders worldwide and locally are facing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The trajectory for recovery will be very different depending on where you live, who you are and what industry dominates the regional economy, among other complex factors.

“The economic impact of COVID-19 on individuals, families and businesses is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Washington State Commerce Director Lisa Brown. “The depth and complexity of the challenge we’re dealing with demands that we use data in new ways to help every family, every community and every industry get back on their feet, stronger and more resilient than before.” 

Brown and Chris Green, Assistant Director of Economic Development and Competitiveness at Commerce, today unveiled the state’s new Economic Recovery Dashboard, a unique tool for analyzing and visualizing data from public and private organizations to reliably examine the impact of COVID-19 on the state’s economy. The dashboard details, on regional, demographic and industry sector levels, numerous metrics that could help guide state and local leaders as they chart a path to an equitable, statewide economic recovery.

The dashboard is available to the public on the Commerce website. Brown says local, regional and state leaders can more effectively focus economic recovery efforts by tracking the varying impact of the pandemic and needs through a prolonged slowdown.

“The length and depth of the pandemic has resulted in a global slow down that has affected businesses, communities and geographic regions of our state in unique ways,” Brown said. “A northeastern timber community grappling with loss of a major mill employer. Central Washington agricultural communities facing huge declines in exports. Small service business in urban Puget Sound coping with massive customer losses as office workers stay home and the aerospace industry struggles. We can’t have an equitable recovery without in-depth data. Approaches to recovery must be as diverse as our economy itself.” 

The Economic Recovery Dashboard uses select data from a variety of reliable sources to display the latest available status of employment, businesses, government assistance programs and consumer behavior. It provides insight into the current impact of COVID-19, and over time, will help identify which communities or industries are recovering and which need continued support.

“The Economic Recovery Dashboard developed by our partners at Commerce complements well with our Washington in the Making portal that is measuring the state’s business environment and other key factors such as infrastructure connectivity, talent, entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Kris Johnson, Association of Washington Business (AWB) President. “Working together, we now have an incredibly robust set of tools for building a thriving, resilient and connected economy that includes every community in our state.” 

“Washington state’s diversity is a tremendous strength, but it also means that our unique regional economies are experiencing the impact of the pandemic very differently,” said Suzanne Dale Estey, Washington Economic Development Association (WEDA) Executive Director. “Detailed data provided by this new dashboard will help economic development and community leaders identify and tailor appropriate supports to assist equitable recovery throughout the state.”

For example, expanding broadband access and affordability is an economic imperative, particularly for rural and historically disadvantaged communities. High-speed internet is now essential for students to attend classes, for seniors to access their doctors and prescriptions, for workers to connect with employers and job opportunities, and businesses to keep their doors open. Data from the dashboard, taken together with the Washington Broadband Office mapping initiative, could help guide effective policies and prioritize investments in broadband infrastructure.

Current Economic Recovery Dashboard highlights

• Two months after reopening efforts began, Washington’s employment decline is still 30% greater than the lowest point in the Great Recession a decade ago.
• Unemployment trends in Washington state are tracking similarly with most other states with a steep drop through April and slow but steady growth since May.
• While construction has recovered 80% of lost jobs as of June, leisure and hospitality has only recovered about one-third of job losses and is the hardest hit of all industries.
• There are early signs of disproportionate unemployment impacts across race groups, particularly Pacific Islanders and Black workers.
• An additional 100,000 people have signed up for food or temporary cash assistance since February, with larger increases in central Washington, Spokane and Tri-Cities areas.

The Economic Recovery dashboard was developed with federal CARES Act funding to provide actionable data analysis and improve understanding of where and how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting Washington state. The dashboard will evolve as Commerce updates the available views and data sources where possible. Data is currently updated on a monthly basis. Commerce cannot provide raw data, but sources are cited to provide more information where available.

On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee announced several updates to Washington’s Safe Start reopening plan. The changes seek to align guidance and adjustments to regulations of several industries. Read press release here.

Agritourism Guidance

Effective Sept 21, 2020, all agritourism activities are allowed to operate in Modified Phase 1 counties under Phase 2 guidance.  

Read the full guidance document here. 

Find a full list of current guidance for Modified Phase 1 here.

Partially Resuming the Dine-In Restaurant and Tavern Industry – Proclamation 20-25: This memorandum serves as the criteria for partially resuming the dine-in restaurant and tavern industry under Phase 2 and is effective as of May 11, 2020. After consulting with stakeholders, we have developed the comprehensive Phase 2 – Dine-In Restaurant and Tavern Industry COVID-19 Requirements. These requirements apply as long as Gubernatorial Proclamation 20-25, or any extension thereof, is in effect or if adopted as rules by a federal, state or local regulatory agency. Click here to read full memorandum. 

Phase 2 Restaurant/Tavern Reopening COVID-19 Requirements: The restaurant/tavern must adopt a written procedure for dine-in service that is at least as strict as the Phase 2 procedure below and complies with all safety and health requirements. Click here to read full guideline procedures. 

Gov. Jay Inslee issued guidance for partially resuming limited in-store retail and manufacturing operations for counties granted variance under the Safe Start Phase 2 recovery plan laid out last week.

Through the Washington “Safe Start” plan, more businesses and activities will re-open in subsequent phases with adequate safety and health standards in place. Each phase will be at least three weeks – metrics and data will guide when the state can move from one phase to another. 

Through the Safe Start approach, counties with a population of less than 75,000 that have not had a new case of COVID-19 in the past three weeks can apply for a variance to move to Phase 2 of “Safe Start” before other parts of the state. County variance applications will be approved or denied by the secretary of the Department of Health. Eight counties have received the variance. 

For counties granted variance to move to Phase 2, in-store retail operations may resume with limitations, effective May 12. This builds on guidance that Inslee issued yesterday, and requires that any sit-down in-store food and beverage services must follow all Phase 2 restaurant requirements.

• Memo: Partially Resuming Limited In-Store Retail Operations
• Phase 2 Limited In-Store Retail Operations COVID-19 Requirements

Inslee also released guidance regarding additional manufacturing operations which may resume, effective May 12. 

Guidance documents: 

• Memo: Resuming Additional Manufacturing OperationsPhase 2 Manufacturing Facility COVID-19 Requirements

Full list of guidance for all current businesses.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced on September 21, 2020 updated guidance for agritourism as part of Washington’s Safe Start phased reopening plan. 

Agritourism Guidance

Effective Sept 21, 2020, all agritourism activities are allowed to operate in Modified Phase 1 counties under Phase 2 guidance.  

Read the full guidance document here. 

Find a full list of current guidance for Modified Phase 1 here.

The Washington State Dept of Financial Institutions has developed a helpful webpage list of Financial Resources for Washington Residents Impacted by COVID-19. This includes banks and credit unions, unemployment assistance, trouble paying credit cards, morgage assistance, trouble paying rent, paying student loans, short-term and emergency loans, utilities assistance, and more.

Dept. of. Commerce Grant Helps Hotels Provide Rooms for COVID-19 Responders and Vulnerable Populations.

Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund: Up to $5 million will be made available to provide Working Washington Small Business Emergency Grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses with 10 or less employees, to help prevent closure due to COVID-19. Application and Eligibility details here.

Business Impact NW provides low-interest loans to community-based nonprofits and small businesses with more flexible criteria than traditional financial institutions. Additionally, it has compiled an outstanding set of COVID-19 resources.

Craft3 provides low-interest loans to community-based nonprofits and small businesses, with more flexible criteria than traditional financial institutions.

The Governor has responded swiftly with  expanded benefits programs and a resource list. These include programs such as SharedWork, which provides partial wage replacement to avoid layoffs, and standby, which suspends the job-search requirement for workers to collect unemployment benefits if an employer must make temporary layoffs. You can see a chart of available benefits for various COVID-19 scenarios here.

The Washington Tourism Alliance Launched showWAlove.com offering a platform for Washingtonians to help hard-working business owners and employees by purchasing gift cards for future use. 

The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) is providing emergency relief through the Employer Assistance Program to help employers struggling to pay their workers’ compensation premiums during the coronavirus outbreak. L&I is now offering a grace period for premium payments, along with payment plans for employers facing financial difficulties during the pandemic.

Governor Inslee has encouraged individuals and businesses to take advantage of legal assistance through the state’s Office of Civil Legal Aid. State legal aid programs can help with unemployment compensation, eviction and foreclosure, family safety and domestic violence, debt collection, consumer protection and other issues. Details at ocla.wa.gov.

The Washington State Department of Revenue has information on relief for taxpayers including extensions for filing and paying tax returns.

Resources for anxiety and mental health in a global climate of uncertainty.

• Return to Work Guidelines
• Phase 3 Safe Start Plan Template
• PPE Vendor List

• Whatcom County Health Director Recommends Summer 2020 Event Cancellations
• Whatcom Unified Command organizes food bank deliveries for homebound high-risk individuals and families
• Whatcom COVID website provides information from Whatcom Unified Command
• Local Governments Across Whatcom County Are United in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak
• Whatcom County Health Director Recommends Summer 2020 Event Cancellations
• Whatcom community steps up to help address COVID-19
• Whatcom County Honors National Public Health Week
• Essential City of Bellingham Services Continue During COVID-19
• Bellingham Mayor Suspends Enforcement of Plastic Bag Ban
• North Cascades National Park Closed Until Further Notice
• Bellair Airporter Shuttle Announces Interruption in Service
• Port of Bellingham Closes Bike Park, Zuanich Playground, Workout Stations and Picnic Shelter At Marine Park & Jorgensen Pier
• Port of Bellingham Closes Bike Park, Zuanich Playground, Workout Stations and Picnic Shelter At Marine Park & Jorgensen Pier
• City of Bellingham Closes Playgrounds, Sports Fields, Fenced Dog Areas, Bike Parks, Disc Golf Course and Skate Park

• Tourism Talk November 19, 2020
• Tourism Talk November 5, 2020
• Tourism Talk October 22, 2020
• Tourism Talk October 7, 2020
• Tourism Talk September 23, 2020
• Tourism Talk September 10, 2020
• Tourism Talk August 26, 2020
• Tourism Talk August 14, 2020
• Tourism Talk August 6, 2020
• Tourism Talk July 29, 2020
• Tourism Talk July 23, 2020
• Tourism Talk July 16, 2020
• Tourism Talk July 9, 2020
• Tourism Talk July 2, 2020
• Tourism Talk June 25, 2020
• Tourism Talk June 17, 2020
• Tourism Talk June 11, 2020
• Phase 2 Information
• Tourism Talk June 4, 2020
• Tourism Talk May 28, 2020
• Tourism Talk May 21, 2020
• Tourism Talk May 14, 2020
• Tourism Talk May 7, 2020
• Stay Home Order Extended
• Tourism Talk April 30, 2020
• Tourism Talk April 23, 2020
• Tourism Talk April 16, 2020
• Tourism Talk April 9, 2020
• Tourism Talk April 1, 2020
• Governor Orders Stay Home, Stay Safe Order
• Tourism Talk March 20, 2020
• Travel Advisory Landing Page
• Urgent Request Regarding COVID-19
• Declaration of Emergency and New Recommendations to the Public
• COVID-19 Awareness

Western Washington University has announced that all classes and instruction will be offered remotely throughout spring quarter. As announced previously, spring quarter classes are starting on Monday, April 6, and the quarter is expected to end as scheduled after final exams conclude on June 12, 2020.

This website provides information and serves as Western’s central hub of coronavirus resources and Frequently Asked Questions.www.wwu.edu/coronavirus. 

Western Today is a daily e-newsletter that provides up-to-date news and information. You can sign up for daily alerts here.