Memphis aims to keep tourism afloat amid spreading coronavirus
In any other year, suspending the NBA season might have jolted bar owners in the Beale Street Historic District.
This year, Preston Lamm brushes it aside.
“We're looking at it kind of like a rainout in baseball,'' said Lamm, chief executive of Memphis-based River City Management Group, operator of six bars and restaurants on Beale including Rum Boogie Cafe.
What has Lamm's attention these days isn't the National Basketball Association, whose teams play just off Beale Street in Fedexforum.
It's that crazy virus.
It's starting to sink in here what it means for the Memphis area's 72,300-employee hospitality industry.
Tourism could slump, although Memphis tourism officials aim to tout the city and keep visitors coming from throughout region to see the two dozen attractions here.
Only a few weeks ago, Memphis bar, restaurant, mu
seum and hotel operators were getting ready for a strong spring season of concerts, festivals and visits by tourists.
Then the coronavirus spread around the nation.
Now the first signs of economic impact related to the virus scare have emerged for the Memphis area:
❚ The NBA suspended its season with eight Memphis Grizzlies home games remaining at Fedexforum. The move came after a Utah Jazz player was diagnosed with the infection.
❚ Hotel weekday occupancy slumped 4.9% in early March compared to a year ago, a sign of less business travel to Memphis.
❚ Memphis Tourism’s marketing plan changed. The agency will promote Memphis in nearby cities instead of doing so in distant regions.
Whether the economic situation will deteriorate further, triggering layoffs, is unknown right now, said Kevin Kane, Memphis Tourism chief executive officer.
“We’re certainly bracing for some kind of an impact,’’ Kane said Thursday, noting the drop in airport travel expected nationwide led to recasting his agency’s marketing budget.
If it all works, Memphis may not see a big fall-off in tourism.
People may not fly for pleasure travel from Chicago or New York, he said, though they’ll drive from places like Little Rock and St. Louis to get out of the house.
“People aren’t going to stay in a bubble
indefinitely,” said Kane, who figures Memphis' tourism sites draw more than 12 million visitors every year.
To help keep those visitors coming, he said, Memphis Tourism partnered with Graceland to put more promotional dollars behind the museum, which attracts more than 600,000 visitors each year to the former home of Elvis Presley. And the agency agreed to add money to the promotional budget for Memphis in May, an annual festival that draws more than 35,000 out-of-town visitors in typical years.
In one sense, the coronavirus outbreak caught Memphis' hospitality industry at a fortuitous time. No NCAA college basketball tournament is scheduled this spring, though there is one scheduled next year. And no major business group has had to cancel a convention. The convention center has been closed to business for months while it undergoes a $200 million renovation.
It will reopen in September as the Memphis Renasant Convention Center. Contractors assured him material is on hand and work crews can complete the project on time for the Autozone Inc. national sales conference scheduled for September. “Even with the convention center being under renovation, Memphis has been pretty strong these past few months,'' said Wayne Tabor, chief executive of the Metropolitan Memphis Hotel and Lodging Association. “There are some cancellations around town but they're not big.” Weekend hotel occupancy rates surged 23% in early March on the strength of travelers attending the Post Malone concert and the NBA contest featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies, Memphis Tourism reported. Whether that kind of pace can continue is an open question. The hospitality industry has expanded for nine straight years, adding 11,000 jobs in that time.
Lamm figures the virus scare will eventually wear off and Memphis will be back to normal.
“Usually if there's a downswing there's an upswing right behind it,” Lamm said. “But right now we don't see any signs of layoffs.”
Ted Evanoff, business columnist of The Commercial Appeal, can be reached at evanoff@commercialappeal.com and (901) 529-2292.