Stowe, Vermont Tourism in 2021: optimism on the road to recovery

It’s been quite a year. We’ve all had to make significant shifts in our lives due to the ever-evolving Coronavirus pandemic. The Stowe, Vermont business community has come together in many ways, and those in the hospitality and food industries especially have been some of the hardest hit in tourism. Consumer demands have changed quite drastically as a result of the pandemic, and this has had a significant impact on Stowe businesses that typically rely on much stronger summer and fall foliage sales to get them through the winter, in addition to ski season sales.

With Vermont’s quarantine guidelines and capacity limits, including at the mountain, this winter, restaurants and lodging establishments continue to face challenging times. Many business owners are struggling to find ways to generate revenue to stay afloat until the summer. Whether or not they’re able to continue operating may depend largely on state assistance as well as a quick vaccine rollout accompanied by a strong rebound in visitation this summer.

As with other businesses, Vermont restaurants and lodging properties have stepped up in big ways to survive. At the start, they adjusted on-the-fly and took steps to accommodate their staff and guests safely and continue to operate as nimbly as possible. Businesses also found unique ways to support each other through special promotions and partnerships with each other and with our organization.

Since March of 2020, Stowe Area Association (SAA)—a member-based marketing and sales organization with the primary purpose to promote the Stowe, Vermont region as a vibrant, world-class destination—has been closely following and acting on the developments around COVID-19. While we continued to promote the Stowe region as a vibrant, world-class destination—a strategic part of our mission—we shifted our immediate focus to help support Stowe businesses during the restart phase of COVID-19, serving as a hub of communication in the community and providing much-needed, invaluable guidance, resources, and services to local businesses during this challenging time.

We were able to make an impact by being a source of current and frequent information for businesses to help them navigate the constant changes; and providing resources or webinars on grant relief, PPP, and marketing during COVID. SAA provided opportunities and a safe space for businesses to connect and learn from each other on how they are working through COVID guidelines. SAA created a partnership with Mad River Valley and Revitalizing Waterbury, and was awarded the Restart Vermont grant to develop and promote a new regional brand, the Best of Vermont Route 100. We expanded as a dedicated hub of information for both members and tourists early on by adding a business resource page, travel updates page for guests, and a business operations page on gostowe.com.

The need for communicating the impact on the hospitality sector to legislators became apparent. A lodging advocacy coalition formed comprising proactive business owners or managers at lodging properties around Vermont. Meanwhile, Stowe Mountain Resort announced several safety measures early on, including requiring reservations through a new system to monitor its capacity, wearing masks resort-wide, social distancing, and others beyond state requirements. Thanks to these early decisions, safety efforts, and guest cooperation, we’ve been able to have a safe ski and ride season so far. Our continued partnership with Stowe Mountain Resort is more collaborative and productive than ever. We’ll continue to work together with the common goal of improving our community.

SAA has other strong partnerships with the Town of Stowe, the Lodge at Spruce Peak, the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, local and regional legislators, Stowe Arts and Culture Council, Stowe Vibrancy, Revitalizing Waterbury, Mad River Valley, local/regional chambers, and many other vital businesses and community groups in Stowe.

We also pivoted to promoting the safety message to travelers, which has helped keep our community safe while also enhancing the overall guest experience with Stowe, Vermont, and area businesses. Tourism plays an essential role in our community’s overall economic health, and SAA provides many tangible public benefits for area residents, businesses, and visitors. Destination marketing is a core function of our organization and plays an integral role in the competitiveness of the local and national visitor economy. It also acts as a catalyst for economic development and supports economic growth as tourism cuts across other sectors in the Stowe economy, generating additional demand in other services and professions.

We act both as an easy-to-access source for guest information and also as a screening mechanism for guests that we book lodging for. In today’s corporate environment, many guests are shocked at how easy it is to talk with a real person when they call us. Communication is key to ensuring our guests understand and can follow the required travel protocols, and our properties feel more confident knowing that guests who book their trips with us have committed to following the required travel protocols.  

People continue to show great interest in traveling to Stowe through engagements on gostowe.com and Go Stowe social media and understand that the safety of our community—and guests—is paramount. 

Please continue to be safe and, whenever possible, support local businesses. In doing so, you’re supporting the livelihoods of their employees—our family, friends, and neighbors. Our community has been wonderfully supportive of businesses during COVID-19. While our economy largely relies on tourism, locals are also important customers for area businesses. 

Our staff and board will continue to monitor circumstances around COVID-19 and our hospitality and tourism industries and will adjust our strategy as necessary. We are very fortunate to have an active, dedicated board of trustees, a committed and proactive staff, and an engaged community. Together, we make Stowe a desirable place to live, work, and play.

Standing together “6 feet apart” is our best chance of getting through these difficult times.

Carrie is a leader, strategist, and creative problem-solver with expertise in values-driven, integrated brand, and marketing approaches. She is the executive director of the Stowe Area Association (SAA), serving approximately 250 business members by promoting the Stowe brand through effective public relations, social media strategies, as well as operating a visitor information center and central reservations service for 20+ hotels and inns. Prior to SAA, Carrie was the owner and creative director of New Ground Creative, a creative firm that built brands through engaging design, dynamic campaigns, and authentic messaging. Carrie finds inspiration in travel, singing, reading, and time spent outdoors with her family.