Tourism industry still seeing shortage of PPE

Hoping to head to the White Mountains to do some hiking and sightseeing or other tourist activities this summer? Maybe stay a few days, too?

New Hampshire attractions and lodging locations are doing everything possible to ensure proper safety measures against the coronavirus, even though many tourism locations have experienced a shortage and delay in receiving Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The tourism industry, which takes advantage of the state’s beaches, mountains and lakes, received the “okay” to reopen in late May after being closed since the middle of March from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Even though the extra months closed may seem like an advantage to collect the PPE that the attractions and lodging areas need, still, months later, products like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes are still on backorder, according to Christopher Bellis, owner of the Cranmore Inn in North Conway.

“Initially, getting PPE was impossible,” Bellis said, which resulted in him having to get creative with supplies. He ordered hand sanitizer from an alcohol company that turned vodka into hand disinfectant. When disinfecting wipes came back in stock, he had to bulk up and even then, it took two to three weeks to deliver.

“We bought gloves, for kitchen work, and I had to go through three different suppliers,” he said.  “Then I didn’t receive them for seven days. I called the supplier again, and they said that they were out. I called asking where they were, and they said that they don’t have any and that they were going to ship them once they had them. I had to cancel three more orders [of gloves] until I could finally get them.” When Bellis finally received them, three different glove sizes came by three different dates. 

The New Hampshire Stay at Home guidelines imposed by Gov. Chris Sununu says that lodging in the state can accept overnight reservations from New England residents and must follow the strict cleaning guidelines to ensure proper safety measures from the coronavirus.

Day trips to New Hampshire have been more common because of the coronavirus, Bellis, a self-described “planner” said, but because of the uncertainty with reservations and what the rest of the summer will look like in terms of the state COVID-19 levels, it’s difficult to plan for the amount of PPE needed when shipment is out of stock or takes weeks to receive.

“I've planned for a rainy day, assuming this is the rainy day that I’ve planned for,” Bellis said, who has spent $2,000 in the past couple months on PPE. “At this moment, you can plan to a degree. Additional reservations come at the last minute, or you don't get as many [reservations] as you expected, or the weather is bad.”

The attraction side of the tourism industry has also been hit hard with the lack thereof, and long wait times to order PPE. 

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Charyl Reardon, the president of the White Mountain Attraction Association, said that if they are lucky enough to order products from their supplier, it still takes up to two weeks to arrive; before the coronavirus, it would take two to three days. 

“There is a concern that with all the added sanitation measures put into place to keep our guests and employees safe, and as we begin to see more guests into our businesses because capacity levels are becoming more flexible, the attraction and tourism industry is going to be faced with the lack of availability of these products because so many businesses are purchasing from the same limited number of suppliers,” Reardon said. 

Back in May, New Hampshire received a shipment of 17 million facial masks and 50,000 medical gowns, according to WMUR. Most of the equipment, however, went to hospital and long-term care facilities. Bellis, at the Cranmore Inn, said that he did receive a shipment of masks from the state, but only because the Inn opened prior to June 1.

“While New Hampshire has had great success in procuring PPE such as face masks, face shields, gowns and gloves, quickly obtaining sanitation supplies remains a challenge across the globe,” Jake Leon, the director of communication at Gov. Sununu’s office said. “The Department of Business and Economic Affairs is actively soliciting companies that produce these supplies to meet the significant demand.”

As of June 7, the state received $400,000 from the CARES Act to go directly to funding for PPE, a press release from Congresswoman Maggie Hassan’s office said. But since then, businesses like Bellis’ and Reardon’s have still had issues in obtaining the equipment.

Facial coverings are being sold at liquor stores across New Hampshire, Leon said.

Reardon wishes that the state would not only supply masks at the liquor stores, but significant amounts of PPE and sanitation products for the tourism businesses to purchase for their own use. They are able to safely stock and operate the attractions with the amount of PPE that they have, but it’s unknown how operations will be if the shortages continue.

“It would ultimately be helpful if the Federal Government or the state provided businesses with tax credits for their expenditures for items like sanitation products, protective equipment and employee training which have enabled each of us to safely reopen and ultimately stay open,” Reardon added.

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These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.