In Minnesota, over 50,000 jobs have been lost due to Covid-19 Economic Shutdown in the hotel sector, according to a recent analysis.
The analysis was done by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and shows that 15,202 jobs directly in the hotel industry may be lost, nearly half of the 34,550 direct hotel jobs. When including jobs that rely on the hotel industry, the number rises to 53,482. With many hotels projecting occupancies of below 20%, many may close, which the analysis says would put 33,000 small businesses at risk
“The impact to our industry is already more severe than anything we’ve seen before, including September 11th and the great recession of 2008 combined,” said Chip Rogers, CEO of AH&LA.
“The White House and Congress can take urgent action to protect countless jobs, provide relief to our dedicated and hardworking employees, and ensure that our small business operators and franchise owners—who represent more than half of hotels in the country—can keep their doors open,” said Roger’s statement.
Ted Leines, Founder of Leines Hotel Advisors, said “I cannot imagine that these hotels are going to stay open. … It’s going to take a long time to recover from this,” according to the Star Tribune.
According to data from Oxford Economics, every day the hotel industry supports $3.4 billion of total business sales, $1.83 billion in gross domestic product, $500 million of tax revenue, and $1.53 billion of guest spending, says that analysis. In Minnesota, tourism provides 11% of all private-sector jobs and brings in over $16 billion to the economy each year.
Judah Torgerud
Judah Torgerud is a freelance journalist working with Alpha News to keep the people informed and bring the truth to light. Contact him at whqnu@nycunarjfza.pbz.
