After nearly a year and a half of lockdowns, reduced capacity and shuttered businesses, the tourism sector of Sonoma County is looking forward to a booming return on demand. But while out-of-towners may be itching to return to local tasting rooms, pristine forests and beautiful coastlines, the small businesses and its employees that makeup Sonoma County’s burgeoning tourism and hospitality industries face unique challenges.
According to the Sonoma County Economic Development Board, the tourism and hospitality sectors were, unsurprisingly, the hardest hit by pandemic-related lockdowns. Restrictions on gatherings and travel, coupled with strains on the workforce, but the tourism sector is in an unlikely position of being unable to meet the returning and increasing demand to visit the area known as “laid back Napa.”
Ethan Brown, director of business development and innovation, has been with the Economic Development Board for nine years, working on efforts to increase economic activity in the area, such as combining public and private interests to expand broadband availability throughout underserved areas of the county.
The EDB is one of the smallest departments in the County of Sonoma, with 14 full-time employees, Brown says. The two smallest are the recently conceived Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO) and the Office of Equity. “We support economic development in Sonoma County,” says Brown. “What that has traditionally meant is working with local business owners to stay and grow in Sonoma County. We work with all businesses in the county, although we specifically target those in unincorporated areas.”
Also, unsurprisingly to residents, prior to the pandemic, the Sonoma County economy was booming. Brown says that in 2019, the county was experiencing record-low or near-record-low unemployment, also called full employment. “Things were trucking along. There’s always going to be outliers, but by and large, the economy was growing and growing healthily,” says Brown. “Tourism, agriculture and manufacturing were firing on all cylinders.”
While there had been some speculation that the economy may slow on its own, as is often the case following periods of economic growth, Brown says there was a reason for optimism.
Then, in March of 2020, the COVID-19-lockdowns hit and visitors stopped coming. Suddenly, the tourism industry, which despite its structural flaws related to an impacted workforce, had weathered years of floods, fires and power shut-offs, faced an existential threat on the demand side.
With no customers to patronize wineries, stay in hotels and revel in nightlife, the sector turned largely to reliance on public relief funding to keep its employees fed and housed and its businesses unshuttered. The CARES Act and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by and large kept Sonoma County hospitality businesses open and increased unemployment benefits cushioned the blow for the workforce, even though many hospitality workers in the area live in underserved areas and work either under the table or largely for tips. Many are undocumented, unable to qualify for federal benefits such as unemployment or stimulus payments.
The strains on the workforce cannot be understated. Sonoma County, while beautiful to visit and relatively cheap compared to neighboring Napa, also has an extremely high cost of living and a shortage of affordable, workforce housing. “In the hospitality and tourism sector, the key challenge is the workforce. It’s been extraordinarily busy on the coast, and that’s a positive indicator that tourism is picking up,” says Brown. “However, the workers in those industries aren’t coming back as quickly as demand. That’s going to be a challenge.”
Unfortunately, recent data is not available to show how the tourism industry has fared during the early stages of recovery. However, studies commissioned by the EDB during the more acute stages of the pandemic demonstrate that tourism and hospitality were hit hard.
Now, with the state’s full reopening in June, the problem ceases to be the inability to provide service because of COVID-19 restrictions, but because of labor shortages.
Brown says there are many reasons behind the labor shortage. A year and a half is a long time to go without work, regardless of the reason. Many, Brown believes, have switched to industries like manufacturing and agriculture as labor demand has stayed the same, or construction, which is a county eagerly trying to meet housing demand, has faced worker shortages for years.
Some may be perfectly comfortable on unemployment, either reticent to return to work, which while not considered essential is definitely front-line, or else happy to live off the benefits.
More concerning, some may have permanently relocated to other counties—ones that reopened more quickly or else boast more affordable costs of living.
Childcare has also been at the forefront of challenges faced by workers, especially when schools were closed. Brown says that increased opportunities for telecommuting could ease the burden in some industries, though likely not in service industries.
According to a report commissioned by the EDB, the government and nonprofit sectors were hit the second hardest following the hospitality industry. Brown says this was due to the decreased revenue sources reliant on a healthy economy, such as sales tax and transient occupancy tax. At the same time, governmental agencies had to increase spending and services in response to the pandemic.
In the nonprofit sector, Brown says the pandemic has also been catastrophic to fundraising, reducing the cash on hand for nonprofits to serve the needy.
“They live and die on events and fundraising opportunities,” Brown says. “To have events completely shut down caused donations to dry up. Most of those nonprofits also serve critically impacted populations.”
No Vacancy
Claudia Vecchio with Sonoma County Tourism, a nonprofit that works closely with the tourism industry businesses throughout the county to provide marketing services that drive overnight visitation, says the overall spending and overall tax revenue in the county was roughly half what it was last year, likely representing the large drop off in visitors coming to the area to patronize hospitality businesses.
While the decrease in spending Vecchio cited underlies the impact on the industry, she reported other indicators of a potentially overwhelming return in demand. Lodging inquires are 250% higher than they were at this time in 2020, with prospective tourists having to book their visits months in advance.
“What we’re going to run into for sure this summer, there will still be some businesses that require masks. How they communicate that to customers is going to be a challenge. The confusion around these guidelines is going to be an issue.” —Claudio Vecchio, Sonoma County Tourism
Vecchio says this is a change for Sonoma County, which has a reputation for being a fewer-frills, easier-to-navigate destination than Napa. “We really think travel is going to come back in a real way,” Vecchio says. “This whole pent-up demand for travel people have been talking about is real.” According to Vecchio, the limitations on the workforce could potentially be a significant problem, one that will play out over the next few months under the specter of unprecedented drought and fire risk conditions.
The workforce deficit is manifesting differently across different tourism and hospitality businesses according to Vecchio, but says ultimately, the shortage in labor presents a key pain point or bottleneck to the economic recovery.
She related the deficit to the example of a hotel not having enough housekeepers to turn the rooms. While the stock of rooms is fine, the available rooms decrease because there is less staff to make them presentable.
“We knew going into this that Sonoma County was comprised of incredibly creative, resourceful, resilient people. When push came to shove this past year, that was just magnified.” —Claudio Vecchio, Sonoma County Tourism
Vecchio also pointed to potential problems around masking and vaccination requirements that may present themselves regardless of the lifting of state mandates. Vecchio says the question of employer-mandated vaccinations has not really become an issue and neither her organization nor the county has supported such moves.
“We’re likely not going down that road. It’s a sensitive issue in terms of requiring vaccination,” Vecchio says. “What we’re going to run into for sure this summer is there will still be some businesses that may ask customers to wear masks. How they communicate that to customers is going to be a challenge. The confusion around these guidelines is going to be an issue.”
Like Brown, Vecchio says there were lessons for the industry to learn following these crises. An optimistic lesson is that Sonoma County is beloved by a loyal tourist population. “They really love this place and they want to return,” says Vecchio. “While other destinations are having to do these big recovery programs, we just have to send out the invitation and they’ll come. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and that definitely shows in visitors coming back.”
The pandemic-related lockdowns have given the tourism and hospitality sector an opportunity to take stock, for instance, on the importance of regional travel. Day-trippers from the San Francisco Bay area and the Greater Sacramento area make up a crucial element of the tourists so necessary to our economy, especially when international travel has been so affected.
Sonoma County Tourism will be focusing on key values and themes the county’s tourism venues have to offer, such as environmental sustainability and wellness. Vecchio says the ability for the industry to stay afloat throughout the pandemic showed the resiliency and creativity of Sonoma County business owners, citing wineries that provided at-home, Zoom-enabled wine tastings, or artists who hosted virtual performances.
“We knew going into this that Sonoma County was comprised of incredibly creative, resourceful, resilient people,” says Vecchio. “When push came to shove this past year, that was just magnified.”
The fear is, with tourists in recent years already deterred by fires through much of the traditional season, that tourists will flock to the area, overburden businesses and infrastructure and ultimately decide not to return because of a bad experience.
She says despite the worker shortage, there is the reason for optimism. Her organization, however, is working to get the word out through messaging campaigns, encouraging planning ahead before visiting Sonoma County, for now at least.
As for Brown, he’s hoping that federal relief money from the American Recovery Act, available to businesses and local governments, will help the local economy meet demand this summer. He’s also hoping that despite drought conditions, the region avoids widespread wildfires this season. “We’re just hoping for a really mellow fire season this year,” says Brown. “We’re hoping for this county that our businesses and residents can get some breathing room. It seems to be a string of bad luck we’ve got here.”
The problem on the ground
For Jeniffer Wertz, founder of the Workforce Fund program under the Russian River Alliance, the pandemic restrictions were just another in a series of crises facing the hospitality worker populations she works within Guerneville and West County.
Wertz, a former police officer, started the all-volunteer program in 2012 after posing the question to herself in reference to Guerneville, “How hard can it be to fix a four-block town.”
The five volunteers that make up the Russian River Alliance work to support residents employed by the volatile and seasonal tourism industry that makes up the economy of West County. Her program’s goal is to work with people willing to work to prevent homelessness—rather than tackle rehabilitation of long-term homeless residents in West County, Wertz thought it would be better to keep people on the fringe in their homes.
“Nobody’s getting rich on $500 a week. That’s barely enough to live on.”—Jennifer Wertz, founder of the nonprofit Russian River Alliance
A lot of times, she says, that only takes a few hundred-dollar payments here or there to prevent eviction, keep gas in the tank and food on the shelf.
For a community reliant on the tourism industry and which has borne the brunt of floods and fires in recent years, Wertz says COVID-19 was just another disaster contributing to the deep structural problems in the West County economy.
Wertz says she personally knows many local service and hospitality industry workers who have left the area. One person, she mentioned decided they had nothing to come back to after a flood destroyed their home. The disasters are a two-sided sword, hitting employees where they live and decreasing economic activity when people like tip-reliant workers need it the most.
“We’ve had two years straight of nothing but disaster. Our town is almost 100% reliant on tourism,” Wertz says.
West County residents are at the forefront of the housing crisis as well, with too many Airbnbs and other vacation rental units taking up what could be workforce housing. Replacing workforce housing with tourism lodging means the tourists will have no one to serve them. Wertz claimed the problem is exacerbated by the under-enforcement of restrictions on Airbnbs.
One 63-year-old resident of Guerneville who has worked at the R3 Pool for decades as a hotel reservation clerk was recently forced to move into a new apartment. At $1,350 a month plus utilities, it’s 75% of her wages.
For Wertz, the idea that tourism and hospitality workers should be criticized for staying on unemployment benefits is obscene. “People may be taking the unemployment, but to me, they weren’t making a living wage before,” Wertz says. “Nobody’s getting rich on $500 a week. That’s barely enough to live on when you consider the median rent is in excess of $1,600 a month if you can even find anything for rent in our area.”
The low wages, volatility of the sector, the expense of housing and preponderance of natural disasters are further compounded by decreases in services. In March, a ballot measure calling for an increase in public spending to the area by raising the transient occupancy tax by 4% failed to win voter approval. Wertz credits Measure B’s failure to an expensive campaign supported by the hotel owners and Airbnb hosts who opposed it. Another measure, Measure A, through a parcel tax would have provided desperately needed money to underfunded west county schools.
According to Wertz, the failures of Measures A and B is another blow contributing to a declining population of workers in West County. A major result of Measure A’s failure is the likely immediate consolidation of El Molino and Analy High Schools, with El Molino’s Forestville campus no longer taking students, while essential services like fire and EMS are facing staffing shortages over budget shortfalls.
The closure of Forestville’s only high school is because of families deciding to move out of the area or else deciding not to settle there—not due to business interests that opposed Measures A and B—but it illustrates a self-perpetuating cycle. More workers will be lost with the closure of the high school, something that could have potentially been avoided with funds from Measure B according to Wertz.
While demand for tourism in West County is on the rise, the experience of the worker is worse than ever. Ultimately, the worker shortage could loop around, with the inability to provide good service and meet demand affecting the broader tourism and hospitality sectors and the Sonoma County economy in general.
“They’re just not having luck finding people. A lot of businesses are having a really hard time,” Wertz says. “It’ll be all hands on deck again this year, but each year it gets harder and harder.”
While Wertz understands why workers would want to stay on unemployment, she believes it’s time to get back to work. The entire ethic of RRA, which has for months been distributing federal rental and utility assistance, is that those willing to work should be encouraged to do.
However, public money is just a Band-Aid on a structural problem.
Wertz advocates for a resident discount card that would allow businesses to offer reduced prices at grocery stores and restaurants to those living in the area. She also proposes a cap on vacation rental permits, and subsidies on worker housing, as many cannot wait for Section 8 housing. “I don’t think the path that we’re on is sustainable unless we make some drastic changes to our priorities,” says Wertz. “We have to have schools and living wages and affordable housing. Those three things are the basic stuff—the bare minimum. I don’t predict a shortage of tourism unless people come here and have a terrible time and don’t want to come back. Our workers are the ambassadors of tourism that make people want to come back more than anything else. Invest in our community needs. Invest in the foundation. The rest will follow and thrive as a result.”
Wheels Up
Following a year and a half of strict air travel restrictions, the Charles M. Schultz Airport in Santa Rosa is anticipating it will soon provide even more flights per day than in 2019, according to Manager Jon Stout. The rebounding of flights to the county-affiliated airport demonstrates the demand for travel to the area following years of would-be tourists being deterred by pandemic lockdowns.
Flights into the Sonoma County Airport, according to Stout, vary in number per day based on the season, with more flights per day in the summer and fewer in the winter, corresponding to the tourism season.
In March of 2020, total monthly passengers dropped to 19,000, and in April just 1,400. (For comparison, the airport served 34,000 passengers in April 2018.)
Stout said the conditions of the pandemic determined how the airport fared over the rest of 2020, with more activity as lockdowns eased and corresponding decreases as lockdowns tightened. “It’s definitely reflective of the change of state of the pandemic,” says Stout.
In October, just before the holiday surge, the airport saw a peak before the state went back into full lockdown. With the re-implementation of the tier system in January, the flight has steadily picked back up.
In May, the airport was on track to serve around 35,000 passengers. Still low compared to a normal year, but a significant improvement. The airport is currently offering 13 flights per day, to and from locations such as Denver and Seattle. In September, this will increase to 20 total flights, just in time for the harvest season.
While the airport endured huge financial losses—$ 2 million from its largest revenue sources, parking, alone, it has fortunately escaped laying off any staff. In fact, a grant from the FFA funded terminal renovations and other improvements.
“Without that grant, we would have had some substantial layoffs and re-evaluated the projects. Our congressional delegation really heard us,” says Stout.
According to Stout, COVID-19 guidelines will continue to be an issue throughout reopening, with differing requirements by state and country, and potentially different requirements for the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated. One thing is for certain, says Stout, at least in the foreseeable future: “When you come to the airport and want to fly, you’re going to have to wear a mask.”
Employer-Mandated Vaccinations
As vaccinations went from scarce to easily obtained, with California making vaccinations available to all residents 16 and older in April and since lowering the age incrementally, the question of how the workplace would handle employees reluctant to get vaccinated was posed.
While employer-mandated vaccinations are legal in California—with stipulations—the overwhelming majority of employers have not mandated vaccination for their employees, according to Lisa Ann Hilario, an employment lawyer at Spaulding McCullough & Tansil.
There are two legal and several practical barriers to employer-mandated vaccines, says Hilario. Employees can escape mandates through medical disability or a sincerely held religious belief in opposition to vaccines. These two topics get employers into difficult-to-navigate waters, as they require asking about sensitive personal information.
California employment law requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodation for an employee who refuses vaccination based on a sincerely held religious belief, but not based on political beliefs. Since political and religious beliefs may be intertwined, it can be difficult to differentiate. Employees with political opposition to the vaccine who are aware of a religious exemption could “say the right words,” in attempts to exempt themselves from the vaccine.
Employers would also have to consider whether they’d be willing to lose talent in a competitive labor market over an employee’s refusal to get vaccinated. Hilario says employers could instead offer incentives to encourage participation in the vaccine program. While the law already requires employers to pay sick leave to employees who miss work to get the vaccine or due to adverse vaccine reactions, some employers are providing employees with gift cards, small cash awards, or extra paid vacation as further incentives to get the vaccine.
Chuck McPherson, a partner at LEAP Solutions, said, “I don’t believe we know of any of our clients that have taken the mandatory route.” LEAP provides businesses with services like recruitment, executive coaching and human resources consulting, among others.
According to McPherson, employers would have to be mindful about liability to claims of retaliation or discrimination for employees under a mandated vaccine program. He emphasized that using a good-faith interactive process to determine an effective reasonable accommodation would have to be worked out between the employer and employee. For instance, one possible accommodation could be an employer could require unvaccinated employees to work from home.
As of May, McPherson knew of one of their clients—in the health-care industry—considering a mandated vaccination scheme.
