by ASIF LAKHANI
In its 2018 Annual Report, Team San Jose, which is the nonprofit economic development organization of Visit San Jose, concluded 973,500 international visitors spent $856.3 million in Santa Clara County’s largest city that year while domestic visitors accounted for 19.1 million trips and $1.77 billion in visitor spending. San Jose also has six city-owned venues in its portfolio total, the Annual Report said. Although the pandemic certainly disrupted cash flow and income that may take years for local businesses to recoup, it’s fairly safe to say that Silicon Valley’s headquarters will have to be one of the first to rebound. Simply too much is at stake here for it not to be.
In mid-March, the Bay Area was one of the first areas in the country to see positive cases of COVID-19, and subsequently, one of the first places to move forward with a shelter-in-place order. California became the first state in the country to initiate a statewide lockdown just three days later.
PROJECT ROOMKEY
In early April, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an initiative called Project Roomkey, which had the goal of providing 15,000 rooms and more than 1,300 trailers plus meals, security, and custodial services for the state’s homeless in the fight against COVID-19. That move also was the first of its kind in the nation. FEMA will provide up to 75 percent of the cost-share reimbursement to the state and local governments, according to the release. Local governments had already secured more than 6,800 rooms when the announcement was made.
San Jose had the highest number of COVID-19 cases, at least 1,000 both in Santa Clara County and the San Francisco Bay Area as well.
In response to the pandemic, the city has been housing first responders at local hotels and converted two event centers into temporary shelters and clinics for the homeless equipped with showers, beds, outlets, and laundry stations.
Furthermore, the San Jose convention centers’ F&B staffs also have been working tirelessly to provide 10,000 meals per week – breakfast, lunch, and hot dinners daily – to the city’s first responders and the homeless being housed at the local hotels and two convention centers. The latter is the city’s commitment to the Project Roomkey initiative.
LOVE SAN JOSE
As the city’s tourism and travel organization, Visit San Jose is responsible for keeping a pulse on the town’s tourism and event industries in addition to much more. Shortly after the pandemic hit, the Visit team launched Love San Jose campaign online that includes a regularly updated list of hotels that are open to the public during the pandemic, plus virtual engagement activities and easily accessible ways to support local small businesses and restaurants during the lockdown. Additional resources listed include a list of restaurants open for takeout, industry resources, and a consolidated list of good news happening in the community.
Visit San Jose leadership has been communicating with local hotel partners daily about the number of hotel rooms available and the status of the inhabitants and resources to make sure all needs are addressed before the situation becomes even more urgent.
POPULATION CONCERNS DURING THE PANDEMIC
With more than one million residents, San Jose is California’s third-largest city by population in the state – behind Los Angeles and San Diego, respectively – and, by the same metric, the 10th-largest city in the country. Recognized by Bay Area locals as the true home of Silicon Valley, San Jose is crucial to the global economy and the livelihood of multiple industries in a myriad of ways, thus making containment of the virus as it pertains to the region at large crucial on multiple levels.
NUMBERS FOR A REBOUND
In its 2018 Annual Report, Team San Jose, the nonprofit economic development organization of Visit San Jose, concluded 973,500 international visitors spent $856.3 million in Santa Clara County’s largest city that year while domestic visitors accounted for 19.1 million trips and $1.77 billion in visitor spending. San Jose also has six city-owned venues in its portfolio.
Although the pandemic certainly disrupted cash flow and income that may take years for local businesses to recoup, it’s fairly safe to say that Silicon Valley’s headquarters will have to be one of the first to rebound. Simply too much is at stake here for it not to be.
