Tourism impact from latest restrictions in Santa Cruz
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) All counties not on the state’s COVID-19 watch list, including Santa Cruz, are now ordered to close dine-in restaurants, bars, movie theaters and family entertainment centers.
The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk announced Monday that due to the new regulations it will close its arcades, mini golf and bowling alley temporarily.
“That limits a lot of partners in retail and other venues around the boardwalk that now are not getting that traffic flow,” Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce CEO Casey Beyers said.
Watsonville resident Carlos Gonzalez showed up to the Boardwalk hoping to take his son to the arcade, but was turned away not realizing it was closed.
"There’s nothing to do. Kids can only be home for so long,” Gonzalez said.
Stagnaro Bros on the Santa Cruz Wharf is mostly serving fresh seafood to-go orders these days.
“We had a strong feeling it wasn’t going to be long until they shut things down again,” owner Rob McPherson said.“The market is probably doing better now that the restaurant is closed than when the whole operation is up and going.”
The restaurant weighed opening its indoor dining, but the food supply and labor costs would just be too high. The restaurant was forced to furlough about 80 percent of its workforce during the pandemic, and its PPP loans ran out last week.
“Now they’ll probably have to go back on unemployment if they haven’t found work already,” McPherson said.
“Will there be another economic stimulus to carry us into the fall? And no one has an idea of when we’re going to get to the second wave if we can’t get out of the first,” Beyers said.
Beyers said the hardest hit industries due to the latest restrictions are hospitality, restaurants and tourism.
“Be calm, stay safe and buy local,” Beyers said.
Santa Cruz is not on the state’s monitoring list, which includes Monterey and San Benito County, but health officer Dr. Gail Newel said Santa Cruz is likely to join the watch list in the next two weeks.
