SAN ANTONIO — The city's tourism industry was forced to shut down during what's typically its busiest time of the year.
Now, as Bexar County leaders sound the alarm on the second wave of coronavirus, tourist attractions are reopening under new guidelines.
Davis Phillips, the president and CEO of Phillips Entertainment, Inc., owns some of the biggest tourist attractions downtown. He said he's making changes to ensure the safety of customers and staff, and is also offering discounts to locals as fewer people are traveling.
Phillips said he's been in the entertainment business since he was 11 years old and has never encountered such an economic challenge.
"We make money in March and summer," Phillips said. "Those are our major money months. And a lot of tourist attractions lose money the rest of the year. So to have March blacked out and have had zero revenue in April, it may be faced with a summer that doesn't look like a typical summer in terms of visitation. It's rough."
His company runs Ripley's Haunted Adventures, Guinness World Records Museum, Tomb Rider 3-D and more. All of the attractions reopened this week, though Phillips said his team members are now required to wear masks and that they have sanitation stations throughout the sites. He said employees of the attractions undergo temperature checks prior to clocking in and that they are not allowing people to be grouped with anyone outside of their group.
Amanda Lopez is from Austin. She said she and her young daughter came to San Antonio to escape their bustling city for the day.
"A lot of areas are closed of masks are required even for smaller children. And right now there's a lot of protesting still going on. So there's not a whole lot to really do right now in Austin," Lopez said.
Phillips said the locally owned and operated attractions will need help from the community to stay alive during the pandemic.
"We are all in for San Antonio," Phillips said. "And we need the locals to come out and support the businesses."