Many tourists and Butler County residents attended last year's Moraine State Park Regatta. The park's 50th anniversary this year had a slate of activities planned and had to cancel a number of them due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When the coronavirus pandemic fades, Butler County's tourism industry will need some tender loving care.

“The first (industry) that was affected was tourism, and the last one that will come back is tourism,” said Jack Cohen, president of the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau.

Cohen said the bureau's health can be a great indicator of the tourism industry's overall health because it relies on funding from sales taxes in the industry. He said right now, hotels are struggling to fill their rooms, which means less money coming into the bureau. He said in a normal setting, hotels see about 70 percent occupancy, but that has dropped significantly.

According to 2018 data compiled by Tourism Economics, Butler County saw $82.1 million spent on lodging alone.

The data-analytics company provides annual reports for VisitPA.com, a site managed by the state tourism office, which is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

“When the governor tells people you can't leave your house, nobody is coming to stay at a hotel,” Cohen said. “We're experiencing about 10 percent occupancy right now.”

Audrianna Bly is the general manager of the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Butler, which continues to operate in a limited capacity. The staff has been cut. The pool and fitness center are closed. And breakfast has changed from continental to a grab-and-go setting.

“Obviously, we've slowed down tremendously,” Bly said. “We have some travel still from some (who work in) places that are essential.”

Bly said the hotel, which opened in 2013, was seeing its best-ever year when the pandemic struck. She said it broke her heart to cut staff.

“I think now, everybody kind of understands that it's nobody's fault,” Bly said. “We just don't have another choice. We're working right now with a skeleton crew doing what we can.”

Cohen said those in the tourism industry will watch all other industries repair and return to service likely before their own.

“It'll take us between 18 and 24 months to get back to where we were,” he said. “That's the expectation for ramping this back up.”

Countywide impactCohen said people traveling to and staying in the county also means they find places to eat, places to shop and things to do. He said tourism infused the county's economy with around $700 million overall in 2019.According to Tourism Economic's state figures, the county saw total spending of $613.9 million on tourism products in 2018. Broken down, visitors to Butler County spent $141.9 million on food and beverages; $110.4 million on shopping; $104.4 million on recreation; and $175.1 million on transportation.“That's what makes our industry so important,” he said. “How do you make that up?”James Brezel, president of Cooper's Lake Campground, said his busy season offers people plenty of chances to recreate through many events. In addition to the popular live-action, role-playing events like Ragnarok and Pennsic, the Slippery Rock Township entertainment venue also hosts the county favorite Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival.“There's going to be a drop in the number of people that come by,” Brezel said.Brezel said for now all three of these events have been pushed to June, with the Pennsic running into August. But since the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the schedule, it will force the traffic of visitors to fluctuate, which will affect the restaurants and shops close by.“I have friends who own businesses around here that are going to be impacted by this,” he said.Brezel said pushing back events will also condense his summer schedule, which would look different for his employees.“I'm going to be relying on my great employees to help get us through this trying time,” he said.While the tourism industry provides entertainment for tourists, it also provides jobs and its activities and festivities enhance the quality of life for the county's residents.“Our estimate is that there's about 20 percent of those people are still working,” Cohen said. “But that means there are 8,000 people not working just from our industry.”On top of layoffs, locals go to the same places tourists do for entertainment and fun.

Park milestone affectedThis year, Moraine State Park celebrates its 50th anniversary, which was supposed to be highlighted by events all year.According to David Murray, president of the Moraine Preservation Fund, the park has been busier than he has ever seen, but the park itself isn't benefiting from that increased attention.Murray went for a “short” six-mile run last weekend on some of Moraine's many trails. He said on a typical run like that he would have seen one or two people. Last weekend, he saw 39 people on the trail with him.“Interestingly enough, the attendance of the park is up significantly,” Murray said.But because of COVID-19 restrictions, all park buildings are closed, including rental services, concession stands and any other money makers. This includes the Owlett gift shop and the Nautical Nature Tour run by the preservation fund.Murray said usually during this time of year, the gift shop would be selling items to generate funds for a project — this year, it's purchasing a newer, bigger boat for the tours.And in spring, the boat would be ushering classes of students around Lake Arthur, but not this year. Murray said Memorial Day is when their public tours begin each year.“We are going to continue to plan as if we're going to operate on a Memorial Day,” Murray said of the projected May 25 launch. “Hopefully, we can.”Murray said he is both pleased and concerned by the increased use of the park.“I love to see more people in the park,” he said. “Unfortunately, with the budget cuts that happened to the park over the years, they're able to keep up with minimal maintenance, so it may be hard to keep up with increased attendance.”Cohen said so far the park has seen multiple events cancel, including the Glacier Ridge Trail Race, a fundraiser that donated all monies raised back to the park.“They're thinking about rescheduling, but they don't know when or how,” he said.

Lingering impactMany events all over the county, state and nation have suffered in similar circumstances. Organizers want to reschedule, but they don't know when they will be able to because the timeline for this virus is still to be determined.Cohen said the best thing Butler County residents can do is abide by the stay-at-home order and let the virus run its course. He and others in the industry will sift through the wreckage when this is done and do what they can to support regrowth.“We're still servicing people without their revenue,” Cohen said. “At the end, it will come back, it'll just take a long time.”