COVID-19 taking toll on Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County is being hit hard by COVID-19 on multiple fronts, but as with previous disasters, recovery is possible. It’s just going to take a while, and the recovery won’t be enough to save all of the businesses that have been affected. In a webinar on April 16, experts in several fields joined Peter Read More →
Santa Barbara and Goleta chambers to merge
Two of the region’s largest chambers of commerce have agreed to merge, creating a regional chamber for South Santa Barbara County that mirrors efforts elsewhere in the region. The Chamber of the Santa Barbara Region and the Goleta Chamber of Commerce announced April 24 that they will combine memberships, creating an organization with more than Read More →
Tri-county vintners use virtual wine tasting to connect to customers
Daniel Daou of Daou Vineyard & Winery in Paso Robles hosted his first virtual wine dinner from home recently, reaching 140 people in Arizona. They spent an hour and a half with him in their own homes as they enjoyed a meal packaged by a local restaurant and three Daou wines. “I have to tell Read More →
Tri-county tourism, hospitality hurting but region suited for recovery
Keeping the economy closed has saved lives, but it has hurt and will continue to hurt tri-county residents in the pocketbook. A webinar put on by UC Santa Barbara on April 16 probed the different ways the community’s businesses were hurting and panelists talked about solutions to help ease the pain. “I think we can Read More →
COVID-19 pandemic crushes the tri-county wedding industry
Hundreds of weddings in the Tri-Counties have been canceled or postponed since governmental orders forbade people from gathering in groups to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The ban cratered the industry on the Central Coast, which saw weekends in half of March, all of April and now parts of May become untenable. “It’s devastating to Read More →
Tri-county airports get federal grants as ridership plummets
Several tri-county airports received federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Airport Grant Program as they faced steep declines in ridership. Of the three largest airports, San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport received the most —$20 million. Santa Barbara Municipal Airport got $9.6 million, and Santa Maria Public Airport, which lost Read More →
Alaska Airlines changes flights to keep serving SLO and SB airports
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