A group of State House Democrats toured Kennywood Wednesday ahead of a roundtable discussion on the pandemic's impact on the tourism and amusement industries.
It was one of several visits by the House Democratic Policy Committee to Pennsylvania's tourism destinations.
"We're going to these parks. We're seeing what they're doing and seeing what we can do to help them rebuild and attract folks to get them back in and spending money in this county and counties across Pennsylvania," said State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D-Erie)
He said the pandemic cost 25,000 tourism jobs in Allegheny County alone.
Considering Pennsylvania is one of the most prominent states for the amusement industry, Bizzarro adds its essential to the state's economy.
"Tourism is important to Pennsylvania," he said. "It's our second largest industry, and we need to do whatever we can do to keep that industry healthy and keep people coming in and visiting."
Kennywood does appear to be bouncing back after a year of dealing with pandemic-related shortages and restrictions.
Spokesperson Nick Paradise said the park is nearly back to full operation.
"We've continued to see demand be really impressive, and people are just really excited to get back out there and do things," he said. "We've been able to make adjustments to expand our operations from the conservative, cautious start that we were initially planning for to, right now, we're open seven days a week."
As cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant rise, Paradise said they're keeping a close eye on guidance from health officials.
