Hill City Chamber offers reassurance through the pandemic

This is the second part of our series looking at the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Experts say that COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, and its associated pandemic has the potential to decimate the summer tourism season in Hill City.

But Janet Wetovick-Bily, executive director of the Hill City Area Chamber of Commerce, said Hill City is not unique in the potential challenge posed by COVID-19.

“It’s clear that tourism and the hospitality industry have been greatly impacted here in the Black Hills and in tourism areas all over the country,” she said. “The travel and tourism sectors are at risk, jobs and businesses are on the line or have been lost and economic recovery might

be slow depending on how long the pandemic lasts.”

Each individual business owner faces unique and enormous challenges, she said, but the pandemic has caused the unique opportunity to pause, reflect, assess and connect in different ways while binding people together and allowing people to plan for the future.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has guidelines out that state people should be six feet from one another — a practice known as social distancing — and people should not gather in groups of 10 or more.

In Hill City, people and visitors seem listening, Wetovick-Bily said.

“Although on some days vehicle traffic seems robust, and there are people enjoying the outdoors while practicing social distancing, website analytics and Main Street visuals in many communities bear out that visitors are heading the ‘stay at home, stop the spread, save lives’

message,” she added. “And individual businesses who have had cancelations, postponements, who have had to reduce hours or temporarily shut their doors will affirm this.”

Alternately, though, essential businesses and service providers such as grocery stores or other retail suppliers may have had an increase in traffic from both locals and visitors alike, she added.

Yet it’s too early to tell the economic impact the pandemic has had on Hill City so far.

“We won’t know this until municipal sales tax have been reported, comparisons can be made and until we are past the crisis,” Wetovick-Bily said.

Hill City, however, is unique, and the city is fortunate to have creative and proactive businesses, she added.

The chamber is encouraging members to avail themselves of virtual training, webinars, educational sessions, connecting with their customers through email, traditional mailing or social media, to create an online website or presence and to strategize on turning a booking cancelation to a rescheduled one.

The chamber, too, is sharing all small business economic resources for businesses to explore to help them get through this period and help preserve staffing.

Secretary Jim Hagen of South Dakota Tourism has also given industry partners what Wetovick-Bily described as “encouraging strategies,” which includes:

• History shows clearly in similar pandemic situations such with swine flu (H1N1), there was a demand for travel once the crisis was over with visitors booking in big numbers and hitting the road, which South Dakota Tourism believes will happen again

• Be ready to offer great incentives to visitors

• Get in touch with visitors who may have canceled their reservations or were past guests and encourage them to visit. Everyone in the tourism industry should do this once the time is right

• Research indicates road trips will be popular once the pandemic is over

• Emphasize the Black Hill’s “pristine outdoors, clean air, affordability and, of course our outstanding state and national parks.” Old West, pioneer and Native American heritage and culture, the arts and culture scene and culinary, brewery and winery offerings are also good selling points.

How the summer season shapes up all depends on the course of the pandemic in South Dakota and throughout the nation, Wetovick-Bily said.

The chamber is hoping that whatever is lost on the front end will be made up on the back end of either the season or the year; however, the slow economic recovery will cause a “enormous challenge.”

Wetovick-Bily added these parting words of advice: “We South Dakotans are tough. We are a resilient country, a resilient state, and a resilient industry. In time — hopefully sooner rather than later — our day-to-day lives will return to normal patterns and visitors will start crossing our borders in large numbers to experience our Great Faces and Great Places. We’ll be planning for them and ready for them. You should be, too.”