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To submit a news item send an email to press@mountainnews.com. The Industry Report is published by Mountain News Corp., which also publishes OnTheSnow.com Editor-In-Chief: - Craig Altschul Executive Editor: - Roger Leo President & Publisher: - Rob Brown Managing Director: - Chad Dyer Advertising Information: - sales@mountainnews.com Subscriptions:
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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » Too Early To Predict Visitor Fallout From FireBy Craig Altschul  It is too early to assess the fallout, but the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported that lodging reservations were down 10 percent just a few days before the midweek holiday. The drop could be fire-related, calendar-related, or both. The resort region normally draws more than 100,000 visitors on a "normal" Fourth. Occupancy rates stood at 75 to 80 percent at South Shore establishments, the newspaper reported. The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority was scrambling to get the word out that the devastation was centered in one area occupied primarily by permanent residents. But the "Open for Business" sign will probably need to hang out a while. "We were kind of nervous as we drove into the Tahoe Basin," said Mountain News executive Chad Dyer, who decided to go ahead with a planned family getaway at the Hyatt Regency Resort on the North Shore while the fire was still raging. "It was really smoky at 500 feet above the lake and we weren't sure what we were in for, but by the time we got to the lake level, it was a non-issue." He said there was concern when a fire erupted at King's Beach, but a quick diversion of aerial equipment from the South Shore extinguished it. However, if that equipment hadn't been so handy, that blaze could have escalated on the North Shore. Dyer said the problem with the media reports was that they didn't distinguish between the North and South Shores. He said a Hyatt official told him their resort reservations held up as the cancellations they did get (some older vacationers concerned about smoke) were offset by those who knew the geography and simply switched shores. Residents in the general area of the fire have many stories to tell. Doug and Ginny Spraque told The Industry Report it took them 55 minutes to evacuate one mile from their home to Highway 50. Their house was spared. The Industry Report will take a deeper look later this summer at the issue of how resorts cope with natural disasters and media sound bites that only tell part of the story. The Lake Tahoe "toll" - if there truly is one - will be evident by then. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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