Coronavirus Europe travel ban being felt on Anna Maria Island. It’s not all bad news

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump announced a 30-day travel restriction from for most European countries due to the novel coronavirus, cancellations of planned trips to Anna Maria Island began to spike.

But it’s not all bad news for a tourism hots pot that has been experiencing a healthy recovery from the massive red tide in 2018.

The restrictions begin on Friday at midnight, and will apply to all foreign-born persons who visited Europe within the last 14 days. They will be in effect for 30 days and will not apply to American citizens, legal permanent residents and their families, or goods and cargo.

The president’s travel restrictions come at a time when many major universities are on spring break. College students and young families alike are looking for vacation deals and for every European canceling a vacation, a young American is happily willing to fill the gap — for a deal, of course.

Coconuts Beach Resort in Holmes Beach said four international guests, all from Germany, have canceled planned trips to the island.

“But I’ve noticed the young people are Googling cheap air flights and calling about availability,” said assistant manager Wanda Bell.

The president’s announcement caused some initial concern, but Bell said early indicators are that it will all balance out in the end.

Americans are looking for discounts on AMI

“I watched it last night and held my breath,” Bell said. “But so far, it just means my American travelers are getting record discounts on flights and are calling here. But we don’t know what’s going to happen because we’ve never seen anything like this before. We also are getting calls from elderly visitors asking about the coronavirus and what chemicals we use to clean.”

That is probably more of a concern to resort owners than the travel restrictions.

“The elderly are being advised to cancel all nonessential travel and we are the epitome of non essential travel,” Bell said. “But so far, they are just asking questions.”

The good news is that the coronavirus — though bound to have an impact — isn’t having a negative impact for now.

Few coronavirus cancellations reported

Seventy-six percent of short-term rentals in Manatee County are reporting “minimal” cancellations over the past 30-45 days even as health officials began to track the disease across the globe, according to Elliott Falcione, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention Center.

Falcione said the most Europeans book in the winter and spring for summer trips to Anna Maria Island, after the travel restrictions are set to expire.

“We are taking it one day at a time,” Falcione said. “We aren’t going to get into worrying at this point because we know our international visitors are resilient and we know we have a destination that appeals to those visitors. They will come when they want to come and I don’t think this will interfere with that.”

Falcione said he certainly expects to see more cancellations, “but there will be some shifting in the marketplace. What’s canceled by a certain marketplace may be taken advantage of by other markets.”

Bell said she’s already seeing that in the number of people in their 20s and 30s seeking to take advantage of openings. So far, Bell said she continues to be booked through April.

Gabriela Hoock, manager at Palm Tree Villas in Holmes Beach, said most people aren’t panicking. She said one guest from Spain has canceled and another from Switzerland is expected to cancel, along with a doctor from Canada.

“But this isn’t a time when we see a lot of guests from Europe,” Hoock said. “We are a little resort here, very serene and our guests feel calm and very safe. We spend a lot of time sanitizing and we’ll look very closely at any guest who is feeling sick and suggest they see a doctor, but mostly people are still coming and trying to get as much sun as possible.”

Learning from red tide crisis

The red tide crisis taught some valuable lessons to the tourism industry. For instance, officials expanding the marketing of Manatee County as other than just a leisure destination. Sports has become a big area of focus, and as the convention center grows with a new hotel, Falcione said tourism officials are also focusing on the meetings and conventions market.

“What is important to note, and one of the reasons our destination has weathered adversity in the past, is that we offer so much diversity in our marketplace,” Falcione said. “We are so much more than a leisure destination and the more you can offer, you can weather a lot more storms. We are blessed in that way.”

Falcione said his staff is in constant communication with the Centers for Disease Control and state health officials.

“That’s why we aren’t worrying but have to take it one day at a time, so we can be responsible as a destination and how we communicate the marketplace,” he said. “We have a lot of transparency in our marketplace and to our customers. We’ve always rebounded well because of that communication.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Coronavirus Europe travel ban being felt on Anna Maria Island. It’s not all bad news."