Tourism In Marietta Has Weathered The Storm

MARIETTA, OH — Tourism everywhere took a monster hit last year when the reality of a global pandemic really sunk in. “It was pretty tough,” said Deana Clark, “We knew we were going to take a major hit because travel basically came to a halt.” Clark is the Executive Director of the Marietta/Washington County Convention and Visitor Bureau (or CVB). In their 2020 annual report, they show a loss of $75,000 to their bottom line.

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She says the tourism industry has lost more jobs than any other industry thanks to Covid-19. “When I say tourism, I’m talking about hotels, restaurants, shops. Those entities were the most hit.” Clark says her department saw this coming and did their best to prepare. “Nobody knew how bad this thing would be. We were hoping that by June things might get better.”

So the CVB battened down the hatches and cut the expenses they could. “By March we had already made most of our ad buys, so we already had taken out an ad in Ohio Magazine, we’d already paid Youtube.”

Clark said that because a major flood could always be right around the corner, Marietta had emergency funds at the ready. She says this put Marietta tourism in a much better position than many tourism boards. “We were forced to use some of our emergency funds.” While many tourism directors around Ohio were laid off, Clark wasn’t. “Many lost all their staff, I did have to furlough two,” but Clark says her board of directors said they wanted her and the rest of her staff working and preparing for a big 2021. “We’ve taken a hit like anyone else,” said Clark. “We’ve lost some restaurants and businesses across the county which is unfortunate.”

Clark wanted to personally thank the residents of Marietta and Washington County, “They understood that we were all in this together. So local restaurants that were take out only, they ordered from them. Stores that were forced to sell things online, they were well patronized.” She said that while this may not have been the case for every single business, there certainly were success stories. “I couldn’t have been happier for the way people here supported local business. Some people even bought gift cards to use later.”

Clark says they were predictably below budget last year, but hopeful moving forward into 2021. “I’m looking forward to a roaring 20s,” she says the roaring 20s were no accident. “Things are going to bounce back just like they did after the Spanish Flu.” Six months ago, only 30% of people were planning a vacation, now that number looks closer to 80%.

Clark says they are going to update existing Marietta tourism guides, and create new ones. This will include downtown maps, shopping, food, outdoor, scenic driving, and public art guides. She says the priority is getting existing events up and running, “between 2020-2021 being in such flux, I don’t think anyone’s starting any new festivals. We’re working on getting People’s Bank Theater up and running. They’re at 25% now, but that’s not enough for them to bring back the big groups.”

She also says she’s hopeful that this year’s Sternwheel Festival will be a big one. “I feel as if, and I’m not the only one, that June will be our comeback month.

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