Presented by Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce’s Southside Mitigation and Recovery Taskforce (SMART), a webinar on the effects the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the regional Hospitality & Tourism sector was held on Friday, May 8, 2020.

This 1-hour, 12-minute Zoom webinar featured Katherine Kertzman, CEO of the Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority (RTA), who spoke about the impacts on the local Hospitality & Tourism sector.

Kertzman’s presentation is eye-opening, and shows the extreme impacts this crisis is having on regional hospitality and tourism:

    • April unemployment rose to a record 14.5% and payrolls dropped by an unprecedented $20.5 million
    • The revenue per available room (RevPAR) is down -83.6%

Watch the video below:

Download the full PowerPoint presentation here (PDF file).

About SMART
The Southside Mitigation and Recovery Taskforce is administered by the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce with cooperation and additional support from our partners, municipal collaborators, and regional agencies will work to find real solutions to the challenges our community faces as we confront the human and economic impacts of COVID-19.

Industry leaders from all major sectors of our local economy, subject matter experts, and government agencies will convene (virtually) at least once a week from March 27 through August 28, 2020. These meetings will be a forum to share insight and information, guide decision making, and create multiple action plans with both public and private support that serve the direct needs of our communities.

For more information:

Founder/Publisher/Editor. Three-time National Emmy Award winning Writer (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”), Director, Producer, Journalist and more...