COVID-19 Information

Visit SLO CAL

Visit SLO CAL is carefully monitoring the spread of the COVID-19 and its impact on the Travel & Tourism industry. We have compiled a list of resources our industry partners can use to educate themselves, their employees and their guests about the virus.

Please find the latest communication from Visit SLO CAL below:

• July 1, 2020
• June 24, 2020
• June 17, 2020
   

San Luis Obispo County Impact

On June 18, 2020 Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that face coverings will be required in the State of California. The full order can be viewed by clicking HERE.

On June 5, 2020 the countywide public health order limiting the daily occupancy of all lodging properties to 50% expired.

In addition to the announcement from the County of San Luis Obispo, the State of California has allowed wineries, restaurants, attractions and more the ability to open as of June 12th.

On RecoverCentralCoast.org, you will find the most relevant information and resources for local employers and the workforce which currently includes tax relief resources, information about State and Federal stimulus funding, workforce training resources and local job opportunities.

Visit ReadySLO.org for the most up to date media releases from The State of California, San Luis Obispo County and Individual Cities within San Luis Obispo County. 

Please find the latest press releases from the County of San Luis Obispo Health Agency - Public Health Department HERE.

​Advocacy

• Visit SLO CAL joined more than 6,000 travel industry and related organizations on Friday in sending a joint letter to congressional leadership requesting aggressive and immediate financial relief in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

• The Legislative Analysts’ Office (LAO) has launched a new COVID-19 specific webpage tracking federal actions impacting California. At launch, the LAO released two updates – on unemployment Insurance benefits related to the Federal relief package, and on the federal health care response.

Industry & Employee Resources

• Destinations International: Up-to-date information as it pertains to the effects of the coronavirus on the travel, tourism and meetings industry can be found on Destinations Internationals Industry Resources page where partners can also join upcoming webinars.
   
• U.S. Travel Association: The U.S. Travel Association has provided a toolkit outlining travel workforce protection, a guide for communicating healthy travel practices and more.
  • U.S. Travel and Tourism Economics have frequently analyzed the effect of this pandemic on our industry, with latest estimates suggesting direct travel industry losses of $519 billion by year's end, a decline of $1.2 trillion in total economic output and the loss of 8 million travel-related jobs as of May 1
  • In response to the two join letters sent with industry partners, Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the SBA have provided new guidance that may be useful to you when navigating the CARES Act - specifically in regards to  Paycheck Protection Program (PPP):
    • ​Business Affiliation: The PPP will treat businesses on a consolidated basis if each is controlled, or can be controlled, by a common owner or manager or if the establishments have identical interests. However, those rules are waived for food and accommodation establishments (as classified under NAICS 72) with less than 500 employees, establishments that operate under a registered franchise, or those that have received financial assistance from a licensed Small Business Investment Company. More information can be found HERE or on the Treasury Department's website.
       
• Visit California: From a statewide perspective, Visit California is taking an active role in providing up-to-date talking points, industry research as well as Social Media and Content toolkits. Additional information from a social media perspective can be found in the Sparkloft Consumer Sentiment Study
   
• California Hotel & Lodging Association: Currently, Governor Newsom’s statewide “stay-at-home” order prohibits hotels from allowing guests to stay for leisure travel. Only hotels that are used for COVID-19 mitigation and containment measures such as accommodations for essential workers or providing accommodations for persons caring for a sick individual are entitled to accept guests under the stay-at-home order. California Lodging Association has put together Hotel Guidance for Accepting Essential Travelers, more information can be found by clicking HERE.
  
  In addition, the California Hotel & Lodging Association has also provided Re-Opening Guidance for Hoteliers which can be viewed HERE as well as a Clean + Safe Checklist which includes guest and employee considerations as well as cleaning protocols - to view this checklist click HERE.
   
• Sysco is hosting a 5 part webinar series "Restaurant Reimagined" for restaurants on how to prepare for re-opening and in-person dining. Each session of this series will focus on strategies, resources and best practices for executing your plan.
   
• Chmura published a COVID-19 Economic Vulnerability Index which measured the negative impact that the coronavirus crisis can have on employment based upon a region’s mix of industries. The latest report lists San Luis Obispo County with an index score of 118 (with 1 being least impacted and 349 being the most impacted).
   
• Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, who’s economists at the consulting firm of Applied Economics (AEI) forecasted the employment impacts from COVID-19 for ten California counties including SLO County.

Additional Information
 

• Longwood International released a COVID-19 and Travel Sentiment Survey on June 1st which found among other findings tracking study of American travelers, 47% of American travelers say the coronavirus pandemic will greatly impact their travel plans in the next six months, down from a peak of 67% on April 1 and the lowest level since mid-March.
   
• On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, Tourism Economics provides an updated outlook as well as a 2020 Analysis on the economic impact due to travel losses.
   
• The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date statistics on the spread of coronavirus and ADARA Traveler Trends Tracker provides real-time travel data that tracks travel-related consumer behavior.

Airline service Updates

In response to the unprecedented disruption to air travel brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. airlines have announced schedule changes, reductions in flights, re-deployment of larger international aircraft to domestic routes, and more. San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport remains open but has seen a shift in the number of direct flights. Through all of that SBP, our own airport was the 7th busiest non hub passenger airport in the country the first few weeks of June, in partnership with the airport we are committed to reactivate air service to pre-COVID-19 levels

• The San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport lost all direct service to LAX, as all United Express flights out of LAX were canceled
• Service was reduced to SFO, PHX, DEN, SEA, and DFW. Although service to DFW is expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels in July
• The new service to LAS and SDP were put on hold as was the launch of PDX

General COVID-19 Information

• www.cdc.gov/coronavirus
• www.cdph.ca.gov
• www.slocounty.ca.gov