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Covid 19

Traverse City Tourism Working to Navigate Challenges Posed by Coronavirus

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The coronavirus has led to a number of summer events and festivals being cancelled.

Now local tourism leaders are working to make sure the area still attracts visitors once stay-at-home orders are lifted.

President and CEO Trevor Tkach says right now they’re working with area businesses to make sure they’re ready to open safely.

“So we need to make sure we understand the rules and regulations, figure out how to make sure we have a safe environment, not only for the people who are coming in, the visitors, but make sure the employees of those organizations are safe and that the community at large is safe,” said Tkach.

He says once people do start to travel, Traverse City has much of what people will likely be looking for.

“We do know that people are still going to come up here because we have so many recreational opportunities, to enjoy. These first few trips out, people are really going to be looking for opportunities to be in wide open space. There’s probably going to be concern about safety when things are too congested, so to be able to get out into a park where people are spread out or find a peace of beach where you kind of have it all to yourself,” said Tkach.

Tkach says while there won’t be events like the National Cherry Festival or the Traverse City Film Festival, Traverse City Tourism is doing everything they can to make sure people can visit safely and stores and restaurants can have a taste of summer business.

“We’re really well known for our outdoor recreation and people know this is a more rural space. Those restaurants, hotels and attractions are a big core piece of our economic engine here and if we start to see those businesses fail, it’s going to affect all of us one way or another,” said Tkach.

 

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