Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association

What a disappointment to not even acknowledge tourism or the restaurant industry Governor Larry Hogan restaurants, tourism economic engines of Maryland, not to mention our only job base. Our business community hangs on a thread weekly for the slow trickle of information, or lack thereof - salt in the wound. Visitors are going to DE and VA.....tax dollars gone.
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Dear Governor Hogan, 

Thank you for the thorough planning during this crisis and for taking the necessary proactive measures to protect Marylander's health. While the economy is in the midst of a RECESSION, the travel industry is in a DEPRESSION. On behalf of the Ocean City hospitality businesses, I feel I must make a final attempt at saving our community. The sensationalized media portrayal of Ocean City tourism has been unfair, I certainly would not want it influencing any re-opening decision making. Please allow me to opine on the reality of life in Ocean City. The Memorial Day weekend Reuters photo (see attached) which was circulated on many media platforms inaccurately depicted the activity in Ocean City. Through the use of compression and telephoto lens, the photo made it look like visitors were on top of one another, however, there was plenty of social distancing over the last couple of weekends. Additionally, in the most recent New York Times now being circulated through other newspapers, the reporter never contacted any official person, or the business whose photograph was used. Media sensationalism is ruining our country.

Tourism is our city’s only economic engine, and those businesses trickle down to the plumbers, electricians and so forth. While I realize your Roadmap to Recovery is a guiding document and not based on a calendar, I firmly believe that without a summer season, the number of bankrupt families and suicides will be alarming. Isolation and economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic are already resulting in a sharp spike in people seeking mental health help.

Tourism’s core values are to make people feel welcome, comfortable and safe. The nature of our industry has always been to embrace challenges and persevere in stormy weather. Our protocols are in place, we need to open other activities and indoor dining or we will continue to force visitors to choose other destinations and/or crowd those businesses that are open.

Back in April, given our seasonality, we knew we had to take a proactive approach the minute the pandemic hit. We created an Ocean City Recovery team to develop our own guidelines on how we could safely re-open for our employees and visitors. This team includes private business owners, our health community, Mayor Meehan and government staff. Through collaboration, protocols are in place; I’m sure you’ve seen those outlined in Senator Carozza’s detailed memo.

Additionally, we have also worked with Mike Haynie MD Center for Hospitality Training, who collaborated with DuPont, in the development of a training video for seasonal employees. Sanitation and social distancing protocols have been instituted all around town, employees wearing masks and businesses operating under capacity limits will be the norm. CDC guidelines have become a part of the daily discussion. Sadly, also in the daily discussion is who will not make it out of this, what business has gone under, or who can’t afford to put food on the table because unemployment kinks remain.

Just yesterday, our next door neighbor, Fenwick Island, opened (with capacity limits) indoor dining, mini-golf, go-karts, casinos, gyms, wedding venues and outdoor gatherings for up to 250 people. It is very difficult to watch revenue cross the street.

We respect all that has gone into your planning; the science and data have shown numbers declining. Now is the time to allow our community to move forward with a local, community based approach to re-opening. Please allow us to do so. Thank you for your consideration.