News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Julie Allen, the area director of sales for Amerilodge Group who oversees operations at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Alpena, sanitizes tables at the hotel on Thursday. Hotels in the area are struggling, with less than 10% of their rooms rented since the COVID-19 stay-at-home order began last month.

ALPENA — With each passing week Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order is in place, more pressure is put on hotels, restaurants, and local attractions like the Besser Museum for Northeast Michigan and Art in the Loft.

Still, as prime tourism season nears, Northeast Michigan officials hope the coronavirus pandemic will pass and businesses will be able to rebound and make up some of the revenue they’ve lost over the last month or so.

But many questions remain, including what effect the fight against the virus might have on popular summer festivals such as the Michigan Brown Trout Festival and the Fourth of July.

Whitmer ordered most businesses closed on March 16 and on March 23 ordered all Michiganders to stay home unless absolutely necessary in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and the disease it cases, COVID-19. That order is in place until at least April 30.

Though the statewide number of cases is near 30,000 and more than 2,000 Michiganders have died — including one woman in Alpena County on Thursday — officials said there are signs things are turning a corner and discussions about how the state might reopen have begun.

Hotels in the Alpena area are being hit very hard because people are being ordered not to travel, said Mary Beth Stutzman, president of the Alpena Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“For the spring season, our hospitality industry was basically left on the sideline due to the COVID-19 activities, and our occupancy rates fell to less than 10% pretty quickly,” Stutzman said. “Our restaurants, bars, shops, and attractions have all been interrupted, but it is understandable, because, right now, the number-one priority has to be human health.”

As the summer nears, it is fair to ask whether popular events, such as the Fourth of July celebration, Brown Trout Festival, and Rogers City Nautical Festival will be held if social distancing recommendations continue. On Thursday, Traverse City announced its popular Cherry Festival, scheduled for July, was canceled.

In Alpena, Stutzman said no firm decisions have been made yet.

“Right now, there is so much unknown and a lot of things up in the air,” Stutzman said. “If we are still asked to do social distancing, then, obviously, we won’t be able to put hundreds of people together in one place. Right now, we are looking at things two weeks at a time, and we hope that, instead of cancellations, we have events postponed or rescheduled for a later time.”

For now, it makes little difference what day of the week it is; parking lots at hotels are basically void of vehicles.

Stutzman said that, if there is a bright point in the local economic downturn, it is that the stay-at-home order is happening during the slowest months of the year, and businesses may be able to rebound solidly this summer.

If Whitmer’s executive order is extended, however, it will be hard to recapture all of the lost revenue, Stutzman said.

“The longer the stay-at-home orders are extended, the longer it pushes our recovery out,” she said. “Every week that passes is another week of lost revenue for our businesses that really need it.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday extended stay-home orders for his state through the day after Memorial Day. It wasn’t immediately clear what, if any, impact Evers’ decision might have on Michigan. Midwest governors including Whitmer, Evers, and the governors of Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky have pledged to work together in reopening their economies.

At the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Alpena, leaders have taken steps to reduce costs while protecting staff and guests, said Julie Allen, area director of sales for Amerilodge Group, which oversees the hotel’s operations.

“Our customers and employees are our number-one priority,” Allen said. “Our check-in process is now paperless, and we have our tables and chairs six feet apart and we have signs all over that indicates what has been sanitized or hasn’t been sanitized, yet. We have closed our pool and our fitness center because of the germs.”

Allen said customers who have stayed at the hotel are usually essential workers doing business in the area. She said locals have not been reserving rooms.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.