Santa Cruz County facing dire economic situation during summer months
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) The COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll on future tourism in Santa Cruz County.
The county says tourism, along with agriculture, accounts for a majority of the area's economy, and right now, they are bracing for a shortfall.
Once popular rides now stand eerily still at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Friday. Reports of furloughs and temporary closures loom over the usually packed amusement park. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports nearly 1,100 workers are being impacted by layoffs and furloughs that are "temporary."
"The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the singular business that's identified with Santa Cruz County from people all over the world," said Jason Hoppin, a spokesperson for Santa Cruz County.
"When my parents come to visit, we like to bring them down here because it's just a historical attraction pretty much," said Madison Lacey, a Santa Cruz resident.
The boardwalk attracts plenty of out-of-town visitors to surrounding businesses. It generates sales and hotel taxes for both the city and county, but unfortunately, a lot of what the boardwalk offers is being restricted by the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Like I get the fact that it needs to be closed because it draws so many people from other areas into Santa Cruz, it's not really exclusively a local thing," said Whiskey Kelsey, another Santa Cruz resident.
The summer season is not all lost though. The county says in-park restaurants and other recreational activities could potentially resume if there are proper protections in place.
But even then, it might not be enough to stave a dramatic economic loss in the next few months.
"We're all facing pretty dire financial consequences from the loss of tourist business over the summer that people aren't coming and staying in the hotels, those hotel taxes aren't going to local government," said Hoppin.
For Santa Cruz County, that means possible cuts to programs and furloughs for staff as well, all still being decided.
Santa Cruz leaders say they are trying to do this the right way, so that businesses can open again without endangering health and safety. It is something a few residents here at least understand.
"It's for the good of everyone to just to make sure that no one gets the disease. We don't want another peak," said Lacey.
The county is asking everyone to hang on for now. They are moving as quickly as they can to re-open the economy, but they admit it is going to take more than a few weeks.
