Kevin Kane boosts Memphis like nobody’s business, but even he is shocked by the impact of the shutdown wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
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The president and CEO of Memphis Tourism says, initially, with a certain Southern reserve, that “we’ve got a little challenge out of this in the short term.” But he then goes on to lay it out in all its starkness.
“We’ve got to get this behind us and get people moving,” Kane says. “Our industry has probably taken it as hard as any industry out there. I’m sure that tourism and hospitality account for probably most of the job losses — we’ve got to be at the top of every negative category that you could possibly think of right now.”
Observing that a shutdown like this was beyond everyone’s imagination, he sums up the impact, saying, “There’s no business model that shows hotels running 10 percent to 15 percent occupancy and all the restaurants in the city being closed except for takeout and all the museums and attractions being closed simultaneously.”
Kane says it will take time to get through it, rebuilding in some cases and dealing with some people not coming back. But he rejects any notion that this is the end of tourism and hospitality. “This is a bump in the road,” he says. “And once we get through this, people in the world will start moving again.”
The role of the Renasant Convention Center looms large in what will happen in the tourism and travel industry. The $200 million modernization of the former Cook Convention Center has thus far been something of a plus despite the shutdown. Much of it is in the timing.
“Our convention center’s been closed this year for the most part, except for a few things,” Kane says. “So we’re in a situation where we didn’t get hit as hard from a big group standpoint.”
Referring to the 68th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in February, he says, “We got through the cotton ginners before everything was shut down. And then we didn’t have another big event booked until September. So this is all happening at a time when we were going to be closed anyway. From this standpoint, we’re relatively unscathed at the convention center.”
Kane says the center’s revamp is on time and on budget, scheduled to open in September with the AutoZone National Sales Meeting. “That’s supposed to be our big grand opening,” he says. “We have not heard anything to the contrary, so we’re still hoping that they will have it.” Last year’s event at the convention center had about 3,000 people attending.
The irrepressible optimist looks beyond the present bump in the road. “We’re going to hopefully resume that momentum that we had and we’re going to have a better product,” Kane says, noting that, among other things, the $240 million Loews Hotel project in Downtown Memphis is still on. “I think we’re going to be okay. I think a lot of those jobs will come storming back.”
