NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – State Sen. Mike McGuire said he’s introduced a new bill to help kickstart the travel and hospitality industry, a sector that has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, McGuire and co-author Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva introduced SB 285, which would provide $45 million to Visit California to launch a strategic media and jobs recovery campaign to drive in-state travel to the businesses that have been hit so hard – our state’s renowned restaurants, hotels, and local destinations.
Visit California will multiply the value of the appropriation through newspapers and broadcast media, which have agreed to match the funds from the state.
“We all know the coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of so many Californians – some of the hardest hit are those 600,000 employees who lost their hospitality jobs. While we see light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine, we must set our sights on rebuilding our economy and supporting those who need it most. This strategic infusion of funds will help get hundreds of thousands of Californians back to work and hospitality-based businesses opened safely,” McGuire said.
California’s travel and hospitality industry is one of the largest economic drivers for the state.
Before COVID-19, more than 1.2 million California workers earned their livelihoods in hospitality, and visitors spent $145 billion annually at California businesses, generating $12.3 billion in state and local tax revenues.
The coronavirus has had an especially devastating impact on California’s travel and tourism industry.
Since last March, more than half of those 1.2 million hospitality workers lost their jobs, California lost $78.8 billion in visitor spending, and thousands of businesses have struggled to keep their doors open, even if only virtually.
McGuire represents Lake County, for which travel and tourism also is a particularly important sector.
In the initial months of the pandemic, the industry saw more than a 30-percent drop in jobs. Since then, it’s slowly built back.
In the latest jobless report, the California Employment Development Department reported that there were 1,020 jobs in the Lake County tourism as of December, which is still 12.1 percent down from the previous December.
Since the first statewide shelter-in-place last spring, Sen. McGuire said he has been working with a broad coalition of advocates – including labor, tourism, hospitality, and local chambers of commerce – to address the incredible challenges they are facing and help get over 600,000 hard-working hospitality employees back to work safely and strategically.
This campaign, which would be launched when the California Department of Public Health declares it is appropriate to resume travel, would emphasize that it is safe to travel and how to travel safely.
This current proposal is modeled after a previous action by the state of California following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, McGuire’s office said.
“As the chair of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media, I am proud to be co-authoring this legislation with Senator McGuire,” said Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva. “I represent a district that hosts some of the prominent attractions that contribute significantly to our local and state economy, such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm and have seen the devastating domino effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our tourism industry. We need to establish a safe and responsible pathway to recovering one of the largest drivers of our state’s economy and more importantly, getting more than 600,000 Californians back to work.”
Sen. McGuire and Assemblymember Quirk-Silva have worked closely with a coalition of tourism industry advocates on this important next step.
“COVID-19 has hit the travel and tourism industry harder than any other. Prioritizing a one-time allocation to Visit California will ensure we stay competitive with other destinations once travel resumes, get workers back to their jobs, breathe life into our small businesses and communities, and ultimately help jump start a quick recovery of our economy,” said Barb Newton, president and CEO California Travel Association.
“The Teamsters represent thousands of California workers in tourism and hospitality who have been devastated by the pandemic. Our members in theme parks, rental car agencies, airlines, hotels, and countless other related industries have seen jobs, health benefits, and pensions reduced and eliminated. We applaud Senator McGuire’s effort to jump-start the recovery to make California once again a world-class travel destination,” said Rome Aloise, international vice president and joint Council 7 president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
With SB 285, the $45 million, one-time appropriation is projected to deliver $10.3 billion in revenue to California businesses and $865 million in additional state and local tax revenue.
The bill is co-authored by Senators Allen, Bradford, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Hurtado, Laird, Nielsen and Assemblymembers Bloom, Bigelow, Chiu, Cunningham, Davies, Christina Garcia, Grayson, Mullin, Nazarian, Santiago, Valladares and Wood.
This bi-partisan bill is supported by: UNITE HERE!, California Travel Association, California Teamsters Public Affairs Council, California Broadcast Association, California News Publishers Association, among many others.
McGuire introduces bill to get the tourism industry back to work
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On