Resources For Tourism Businesses
Updates from Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association
Hotels: Do you want to make space available to local, state, and federal government? Local government and public health officials are seeking hoteliers who are willing to enter into temporary leases for certain types of lodging properties at this time. The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is currently working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create a database of willing properties in order to meet the demand for housing capacity during the pandemic. Hotels for Hope website.
Fill out this form to express interest in this program.
U.S. Department of Labor Guidance Regarding Families First Coronavirus Response Act:
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) or COVID-2 will take effect on April 1. To access, please click here. The Department advises that they will continue to provide compliance assistance to employers and employees on their responsibilities and rights under the FFCRA, and will give updates when available. View the fact sheet.
The Department is also hosting a creative opportunity for public input via national online dialogue to provide employers and employees a way to offer their perspective as the Department develops compliance assistance materials and outreach strategies related to the implementation of FFCRA. Anyone who is interested can participate online now through March 29, 2020.
ServSafe is offering free COVID-19 training for the food service industry, to reinforce safe food handling during the coronavirus outbreak.
VRLTA resource page: https://www.virginiaisforrestaurantlovers.com/covid-19-info/resources-links
Virginia is for Restaurant Lovers Takeout Week
This initiative will take place March 30-April 5, 2020 as a partnership between VTC and VRLTA. The goal is to support restaurants that are offering takeout, curbside pickup, and no-contact delivery in communities around Virginia.
VTC and VRLTA will partner with destinations across the state, encouraging them to engage with local media personalities, food writers, bloggers, and others by challenging them to order takeout, curbside pickup, or delivery throughout the week.
Beginning Monday, March 30th, VTC and VRLTA are encouraging Virginians who are able to take the challenge by ordering takeout, delivery, or curbside pickup from three area restaurants throughout the week.
Participating partners and local personalities should use the hashtag #VirginiaEatsLocal when posting on social media. Virginia Tourism is also selling limited edition “Virginia is for Restaurant Lovers” t-shirts, with a portion of the proceeds going to emergency relief efforts for food service workers in crisis.
@VisitWaynesboro will be posting about this on social media. Stay tuned for more details.
VTC Resources
The Virginia Tourism Corporation’s industry website (vatc.org) has a page dedicated to updates on COVID-19 and resources available: https://www.vatc.org/coronavirus/
This page offers a list of business assistance resources, broken down by industry. https://www.vatc.org/cv19businessresources/
VTC has started implementing Weekly Industry Briefings on Monday afternoons at 3:00 pm. If you would like to listen in for updates and a chance to ask questions, sign up here.
Let your Voice be Heard
VTC Industry Survey: https://www.vatc.org/coronavirus/covid-19-virginia-tourism-industry-survey/ (you may take this multiple times, as your needs change).
The National Restaurant Association is gathering information on the economic impact that COVID-19 is having on Virginia Restaurants. Please complete the questionnaire to help us better communicate this information to our legislators: https://restaurant.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4I5ijH5goIPZ8Nv
