FORT MADISON (WGEM) -- Fort Madison city leaders said they've seen their hotel motel tax receipts drop more than 40 percent from last year.
Local hotels said it has been a rough summer.
Chi Easton manages the Kingsley Inn with her concierge dog Chewbacca.
"We're usually at 100 percent occupancy from from May through September," she said.
But she said COVID changed all that.
"It's slowed down quite a bit and we are probably at 50 percent on a good time," Easton said.
It's the same story all over town.
"We had a lot of corporate business return when things started opening back up and then once they cancelled rodeo, that took another major hit in this area," Cobblestone Inn assistant manager Emily Moeller said.
City manager David Varley said the numbers don't look good.
"I think we will be OK this year but if it stays like this, it could be a loss of 50 to $60,000 to us," he said.
He said that will leave the city with some choices to make.
"What we'll probably have to do is shift some money from one fund to another but we do try to carry a balance and we'll probably have to spend down the balance in that fund this year," Varley said.
The tough times are forcing businesses to get creative.
"Right now a majority of our stays are train fans," Easton said.
She's partnered with Virtual RailFan, which allows train enthusiasts to view live streams of trains across the country.
"We have a railcam outside of our property it's bringing in two million views a month now," Easton said.
She said those clicks are translating into visitors.
Easton said once they do get visitors in, they try to keep them in the area for as long as possible and make sure they contribute to the local economy.
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September 15, 2020 at 06:13AM
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Canceled events cause drop in hotel, motel tax receipts - WGEM
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