GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - In March and April, as the coronavirus pandemic grew in South Carolina, Kay Wade’s telephone kept ringing.
“For about two weeks, every phone call was people calling to get their money back,” said Wade, who owns and operates Jocassee Lake Tours in Salem, SC with her husband, Brooks.
Since mid-March, the pandemic has forced dozens of customers to cancel their tours, resulting in a loss of $50,000 in sales, Brooks Wade estimated.
Their story is not unique in Pickens and Oconee counties where small businesses and restaurant owners struggle to remain afloat as tourists and Clemson University visitors have disappeared because of the pandemic.
In Oconee County, tourism generates about $10 million a year in economic impact and supports about 500 jobs, according to Oconee County’s 2020 budget documents. In Pickens County, tourism is one of the top industries and generates more $50,000 in tax revenue for the county each year, according to budget documents.
On Lake Jocassee, Brooks Wade estimates about a dozen tourism outfits lost all of their business because state parks were closed, effectively closing access to the lake. Devil’s Fork State Park offers the only points of access to the lake other than private property.
’We couldn’t even get a canoe on the water for weeks,” Kay Wade said.
Since state parks reopened on May 1 and the Wades received a Payroll Protection Program loan from the third round of federal coronavirus stimulus funding, business has improved.
But social distancing restrictions mean they can run their lake tours at only 50% of capacity.
“So, it’s like we’re doing twice the work for half the pay,” Kay Wade said.
CARES ACT AND FUNDING TROUBLES
It took two months for the Wades and many of the small businesses they work with on Lake Jocassee to secure the federal loans, Wade Brooks said.
The process was long, confusing and frustrating, requiring hours of research and phone calls every day. “I’ve had to become scholarly about it,” Wade Brooks said.
And although small businesses have received millions more in federal loans after the third round of CARES Act funding, the organizations that support the small businesses – trade associations, chambers of commerce and tourism boards – have been cut out of funding thus far.
Nonprofits designated as a 501 C (6) organization by the Internal Revenue Service did not qualify for Payroll Protection Program loans during the first three rounds of federal funding, Clemson Chamber of Commerce President Susan Cohen said.
“A lot of us are quite nervous about that,” Cohen said of the prospect of not receiving any federal aid.
Those organizations typically provide support for small businesses, industries and local economies by providing resources, marketing and networking opportunities.
One of those organizations is Visit Oconee SC, whose executive director Ken Sloan, who said companies around the region are struggling with reopening costs ahead of the summer tourist season while trying to secure a Payroll Protection Program loan and adjusting to social distancing guidelines.
“He has massive outreach. They just do everything for us and others who are in the same boat,” Brooks Wade said of Sloan’s work through Visit Oconee SC.
And while Sloan said Visit Oconee SC can get by without a PPP loan since hotel accommodation taxes – the organization’s primary funding source – are up this year, other groups, like the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce, are in need of the federal assistance.
But after two months of waiting, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would fold organizations like the Clemson Area Chamber into the PPP list of qualifying organizations – Cohen said she and her peers are “cautiously optimistic” the bill will pass.
Even if funding becomes available, local chambers and trade associations may face budget shortfalls if their revenue streams dry up.
Like many chambers and tourism boards, the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce is primarily funded through accommodation tax revenue and membership fees, Cohen said.
While Cohen knows her budget will see a hit from a decline in hotel stays over the past few months, she’s not sure how the chamber will be impacted if members – many of whom are small businesses – are struggling through the pandemic.
“So if you don’t have enough money to pay your rent or your insurance or your employees, are you going to be able to and willing to pay your chambers?” Cohen asked.
Organizations like the Clemson Chamber of Commerce and Visit Oconee SC are vital to helping local economies market themselves, especially as the state begins the process of reopening amidst the pandemic, according to State Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Duane Parrish.
“To get us back on our financial feet, if you will, as an industry… it takes marketing funds,” Parrish said.
Before the pandemic changed life in South Carolina, Brooks and Kay Wade were looking forward to a busy spring and summer.
Sloan helped the two get a feature ad in Atlanta Magazine, a lifestyle publication that helped the small business owners reach thousands more potential customers than they could do on their own.
“We advertise in a three-county range and (Visit Oconee SC) advertises in a three-state range,” Brooks Wade said. “When Ken (Sloan) gets hurt … it hurts us directly.”
‘CRAWL, WALK, RUN’ BACK TO NORMAL
Sloan said businesses like the Wade’s lake tour company are vital to the county’s ecotourism success, especially as people are looking to get safely outside after two months of self-isolation.
“They’re promoting social distancing on their boats, moving forward, that’s gonna be paramount to success,” Sloan said.
In Clemson, Cohen said Visit Clemson is looking at promoting tourism packages much different than the Clemson University-centric packages they typically promote.
“We’re trying to to look at several niches and put together some suggested packages… one package might be related to agritourism and you would go to the wineries, the tea plantation, the pick-your-own type of farms,” she said.
Other businesses, like rafting and zipline company Wild Water in Oconee County, are implementing more protective measures, like wearing face masks for lifejacket safety checks and using online safety waivers instead of pen and paper, Trey Barnett said.
No matter what route companies and organizations take to draw in more tourists, State Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Director Duane Parrish said it’s going to be a slow one with phased plans, like the allowance of outdoor dining a week before indoor dining at restaurants.
“It is a crawl, walk, run process,” he said.
Kay Wade also foresees a “long, gradual” return to normalcy, even as the company’s calendar begins to fill back up with reservations.
“This is a ‘hold on’ year. We gotta pay our bills, feed the dog and make sure we don’t have to start selling equipment,” she said.
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