After pandemic, extreme weather threatens summer tourism in the US

For small businesses in USA who depend on summer tourism to stay afloat, extreme weather is replacing the pandemic as a determining factor on the way in which the summer will pass.

The pandemic had its ups and downs for tourism, with a full lockdown followed by a spate of holidays due to pent-up demand. This year, small businesses say the pace of the holidays is getting back to normal. But now they have to deal with extreme weather—many say it’s hurting business, but warmer places are booming.

Businesses related to tourism have always been at the mercy of the weather. But with heat waves, fires, and storms becoming more frequent and intense, small businesses are increasingly seeing extreme weather as their next long-term challenge.

For Jared Meyers, owner of Legacy Vacation Resorts, with eight locations, including four in Florida, the arrival of Hurricane Idalia Wednesday as a Category 3 storm caused a loss of revenue as it temporarily closed one vacation resort and closed another to new guests. . It also means a long period of cleanup to repair gutters and other damage and cleaning up beaches, including replanting seagrass and other plants to guard against the next storm.

“Even when the hurricane doesn’t hit directly, it wreaks economic and emotional havoc—on those who have suffered prior loss—and on our way of life”said.

A lifelong Florida resident, Meyers is used to hurricanes but fears their intensity will increase. In fact, the number of storms dramatically intensifying within 385 kilometers (240 miles) of a coastline worldwide has increased to 15 per year in 2020, up from five per year in 1980, according to a study published in Nature Communications. .

“It feels, and will likely continue to feel, like we are jumping from one climate change-based emergency to another,” Meyers reiterated.

For Steve Silberberg in Saco, Maine, who runs Fitpacking, a company that guides people on nature backpacking trips in national and state parks and forests, extreme weather is becoming a serious handicap. Research from the National Park Service has shown that national parks are experiencing extreme weather conditions at a higher rate than the rest of the country due to their location.

Historic March snowfall in Yosemite, followed by a wildfire, affected a hike Silberberg had planned. Another hike was canceled due to unusually heavy snowfall that made the Narrows, part of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park in Utah, impassable due to a large volume of meltwater. He had to cancel a trip to the Los Padres National Forest in California due to wildfires and subsequent flooding, which destroyed the trails and made them impassable.

“We are rapidly approaching a crossroads as to how to keep the business viable,” said. “It seems that almost half of our trips are affected in some way by increasingly extreme weather events.”

Businesses in Southern California faced sweltering heat this summer, followed by Tropical Storm Hilary, the first tropical storm the region had seen in 84 years.

“Extreme weather is definitely here to stay,” said Shachi Mehra, executive chef and partner at Adya, an Indian restaurant in Anaheim, California.

Source: AP