Although the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony and the festivities for the Centennial Class of 2020 will not take place this year, there are still plenty of reasons to get excited about what is happening in the Hall of Fame City!
Twice the Fun in '21 >>> Enshrinement Week powered by Johnson Controls, August 5-9, 2021 will be one colossal celebration with a full slate of events to honor as many as 28 legends of the game in two Enshrinement ceremonies.
Introducing the NEW Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company >>> The Gordon Pointe Acquisition Corp. merger with HOF Village, LLC is complete and the combined company renamed Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Company is now trading on NASDAQ under the ticker symbols “HOFV” and “HOFVW”.
U.S. hotel occupancy has risen week over week for 14 of the last 15 weeks. Stark County occupancy was 39.8% in June, up 19.8 points from the April low. Hotel occupancy in Stark County through the first half of 2020 is down -31.8% year over year.
TRAVEL INTENTIONS
AAA projects Americans will take 150 million fewer trips this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, a decline of nearly 15% from last year. However, AAA also projects 683 million road trips from July to September, which is only a 3% decline from last summer and a 0.4% decline from summer 2018.
The Longwoods International traveler sentiment study shows increased concern and decreased intent to travel in the next few months. Only 43% indicated they felt safe traveling outside their communities.
FACE MASKS
According to a study by Destination Analysts When asked how they would feel if a destination they wanted to visit required visitors and residents to wear masks while in public, over two-thirds (67.4%) said that would make them happy or, most likely, very happy. 9.5% expressed unhappiness about a mask mandate and when asked if this requirement alone would be enough to keep them from visiting a place they otherwise wanted to visit, one in five of this group said it would, half said no and the remaining 30% said they weren’t sure.
The Longwoods International traveler sentiment study found similar sentiments regarding masks in their July 17 survey. 61% of American travelers prefer that destinations require masks, and more than half of those travelers (35% of total travelers surveyed) will ONLY visit a destination with mandatory mask policies. 9% are less likely to visit if masks are mandated, and only 3% of these will refuse to visit destinations with mandatory mask policies.
The Ohio Liquor Control Board approved a statewide emergency rule to stop alcohol sales at 10 p.m. each night.
An updated travel advisory is in place for all individuals coming into Ohio from states reporting positive testing rates of 15% or higher for COVID-19.
OH CARES II: New Round of Grant Applications Now Open
Ohio Humanities announced the availability of additional OH CARES funding to help cultural nonprofit organizations affected by the COVID-19 health crisis.
The initial application deadline is August 14. The project start date must be October 1, 2020 or earlier. All grants must be closed out by May 1, 2021. Additional deadlines may be announced pending the availability of funds.
Industry Partner Roundtables are back starting August 20th!
Join us via Zoom on August 20th at 12:00 PM for a casual, virtual forum to discuss updates and news with the Visit Canton team and fellow Stark County tourism industry partners.
