Fairfield visitors bureau takes on new role in pandemic

FAIRFIELD - 'Visit Fairfield … later.”

That's the Fairfield Convention & Visitors Bureau's temporary tagline, a nod to how tourism has all but stopped thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism is a $42 million-a-year industry in Jefferson County, which attracts visitors from outside to its convention center, festivals and hotels.

'Like most industries, our hospitality and tourism industry is really being hit by COVID-19,” said Terry Baker, interim director of the visitors bureau. 'We're not telling people to visit us at this time. We're definitely supporting the governor's recommendations on social distancing and keeping the community safe.”

Baker said the role of the visitors bureau is to attract visitors, which means it's often exploring marketing opportunities outside the area. But with the advent of this pandemic, its role has changed.

'We've had to pivot in our focus toward more community support, to making sure that there is something for people to visit later,” she said. 'We're here to keep Fairfield's message alive, and to let people know what Fairfield is all about.”

Baker said the visitors bureau is focusing on promoting local businesses, such as by holding 'virtual” shopping nights where shops get together to do a Facebook Live event while accepting online orders. She said the one a few weeks ago was very successful, and that prompted a second virtual shopping night just last week.

The visitors bureau is in close contact with business to recommend best practices, such as having employees wear masks and to clean surfaces as much as possible.

'Our hotels have very extensive cleaning protocols, and now only certain rooms are available so they can clean them on a regular basis,” Baker said. 'We were also able to provide masks to hotel employees [about 30 employees in all from three hotels], who are putting themselves in a vulnerable position.”

Baker said the visitors bureau is distributing an industry newsletter with information from other counties and states. It tells businesses what support is available to them, and what programs they can turn to for help.

In looking for silver linings to the pandemic, Baker noted that a recent survey revealed that 80 percent of people who plan to travel in the next few months are changing their plans, that they are opting for car travel over airplanes, and avoiding dense population centers in favor of rural destinations.

'That's good news for Fairfield and Jefferson County,” Baker said. 'This virus is not going to eliminate travel, but it will change it. It's showing us some vulnerabilities in our businesses. On one level, that's exciting because it gives us a chance to fix them, and now is the time to fix them because we're not doing a lot of other things.”