With beaches, parks, swimming pools, fishing holes and other recreational activities reopening Monday on Memorial Day, it would seem that life couldn’t be trending any better for people planning summer vacations.
However, unlike the popular George Gershwin tune, “Summertime,” this summer, the livin’ may be far from easy when it comes to planning — and actually taking — a traditional summer vacation.
Whether looking to stay close to home and visit local attractions or get away to popular tourist destinations, COVID-19 has presented would-be vacationers, and the businesses that serve them, with unprecedented challenges and uncertainty. Questions abound as to whether there will ever be enough normalcy to have a semblance of summer at all.
From Cape Cod beaches to Florida theme parks to the nation’s great national parks, many businesses in the tourist and recreation industry are in a holding pattern as states gradually begin the process of reopening.
One Lynnfield family, wishing to remain anonymous, plans to spend the week of June 26-July 3 on Nantucket. Whether or not they can get there is another question.
The family booked the trip in February
and also secured an auto reservation on the Nantucket Steamship ferry. Under the state’s reopening plan, ferries, including the Salem-to-Boston and Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard routes, will be permitted to resume operations in Phase 2 with reduced service. Full service resumes a minimum of three weeks later when Phase 3 begins, just in time for the Fourth of July summer surge.
“We have friends who are using the ferry regularly without any problems,” the mother said. “We haven’t heard anything negative from the steamship so far, so we are just hoping for the best.”
The mother added that her family is aware that this will not be a typical summer vacation.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a very different vacation this year, but it will be great to have a change of scenery. We’ve already told our girls that we won’t be going anywhere without masks and we are not going to be doing a lot of dining out considering there are a lot of small restaurants.”
Other problems facing renters are short-term rental restrictions (31 days or less), which have been limited to essential personnel since March. Under the state’s reopening plan, those restrictions will be eliminated in Phase 2
When asked if she worries that the Nantucket plans might fall through if the reopening plans are delayed, the mother said, “even in normal times, there are always risks, so we have to be prepared for anything. My hope is that people are smart enough to follow the rules.”
Orlando, a popular summer vacation destination, has been a ghost town since theme parks closed down in March. Wednesday, representatives from several parks, including Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Studios, met with Vice President Mike Pence and shared glimpses into their plans to reopen. While the plans have not been made public, it doesn’t take much to conclude that parks will likely have lower capacity to accommodate social distancing protocols.
Stay at home vacationers are facing the prospect of fewer activities, day trips and attractions. Fourth of July fireworks celebrations in most communities have fizzled. Marblehead fireworks have been postponed. On Thursday, Lynn announced it had canceled the July 3 fireworks celebration.
Also gone is the Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beaches’ summer concert series.
“We canceled all of our activities about a month ago,” said President Robert Tucker. “Beach cleanups, meetings and concerts, all gone this summer.”
Tucker noted another problem stay-at-home vacationers might face.
“The beaches may be open, but the parking lots will be closed in order to control capacity,” he said.
Other popular summer attractions, including harbor cruises, whale watching, duck tours and sightseeing cruises, are slated to reopen in Phase 3 (late June).
Even so, Boston Duck Tours CEO Cindy Brown said she is only hoping to stay afloat until 2021.
“We lost all of our big field trips and cruise ships, we lost conventions and lost the international market, and already lost three months,” she said. “We won’t break even over the next five months because we can only run at 25 percent capacity. All we hope is that the New England drive market will carry us to next year, but right now, we aren’t getting any inquiries.”
Brown said the company took all its “ducks” off its insurance to cut down expenses, adding that the company serves, on average, 500,000 riders each season, much of it during the summer.
