Tag: local

Local tourist attractions plan return

by  on  in Tourism Spot

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS – For Mary Kay Wydra, the president of the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2020 was not a good year.

“It was challenging year to say the least,” She told Reminder Publishing.

Tourism is not only big business for the commonwealth, it’s big business for Hampden and Hampshire counties.

According to the state-wide 2018 statistics (the latest available) from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT) Direct spending was $24.2 billion; State and local taxes: $1.6 billion; Jobs supported: 153,200; Wages paid: $5.6 billion; 27.6 Million Domestic Visitors: 1.8 Million Overseas Visitors; and 700,000 Canadian

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No Tour Home Tour, the 2020 version of the annual Holiday Home Tour, kicks off Monday | Local News

by  on  in Tour

“We knew that everyone needed a little extra Christmas cheer. We wanted to hold to our mission of public health and create an event that was safe for everyone to attend,” she added.

Since becoming the sponsor of the 26-year-old Holiday Home Tour in 2017, the HelpCare Clinic has raised roughly $65,000 from it. Last year, it raised $30,000. Income from the each of the prior two years was roughly $17,500. The tour commonly provides the clinic with 10% to 15% of its annual budget.

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This year, the clinic hopes

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South Dakota braces for ‘almost non-existent’ 2020 tourism season due to COVID-19 | Local News

by  on  in Tourism Spot

The COVID-19 pandemic has almost completely shut down tourism in South Dakota, one of the state’s largest industries.

The loss of visitors now and potentially into the summer tourism season threatens to cut off a vital economic lifeline for businesses and their employees and eliminate a major source of sales tax revenues that fund operations of cities and state government.

Gov. Kristi Noem has said the pandemic and efforts to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus, such as social distancing and foreign travel restrictions, would likely continue through May, when infections are expected to peak in South Dakota. The

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Snyder: 2020 calls for the ‘vacation shuffle’ | Local News

by  on  in Vacation

Big Ole isn’t the only giant figure in our neighbor to the west. Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox have been greeting visitors to Bemidji, Minn., since 1937 and are, according to the Kodak Company, the second most photographed statues in the U.S., behind only Mount Rushmore. The famous lumberjack isn’t from Iceland, but he would look right at home hiking the island’s Laugavegur trail in his classic red plaid shirt.

Enjoy a slice — or two. We stopped at local legend Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors, Minn., on the shore of Lake Superior. What does this have to

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County attractions hoping to salvage 2020 tourism season | Local News

by  on  in Tourism Spot

The owners of popular local attractions are eager to get back to business in what has so far been one of the most challenging tourism seasons of all time. 

Representatives from popular visitor destinations from across Niagara County gathered in Niagara Falls on Wednesday to discuss their plans to once again begin catering to customers now that Western New York has officially entered phase four of New York’s gradual reopening plan. 

While they lost a significant portion of the first part of the 2020 tourism season, the owners and operators of local attractions expressed relief over at least being able

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