Tourism in New Orleans has been hit hard by Governor Edwards’ response to the coronavirus. People across Louisiana have been ordered to stay home. This has hit the tourism industry in New Orleans particularly hard because many businesses in the metro area rely on people out and spending money.
“The challenge we have is pretty clear is that we are getting hit really badly in tourism, there have already been tens of thousands of lay-offs. And then we are going to get the double whammy of oil and gas because of the price war going on between OPEC and Russia,” said Michael Hecht President and CEO of GNO Inc.
Hecht says the coronavirus crisis is like no other we’ve seen before, “This isn’t like 2008 where it was a banking crisis, this isn’t like Katrina when it was a physical crisis, this is that the economic heart has just stopped and we need to apply some economic CPR, some stimulus to it right now.”
But he says money to help businesses and their employees is on the way through congress' economic relief plan called the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security, or, CARES Act, “The Act that is going through right now that has legislation in it that mirrors a proposal from GNO Inc., Marco Rubio actually picked it up in his side where you are going to get a loan but there are two really important differences.” Hecht explains, “One is that the loan is going to come from your local bank, not the SBA. The SBA is going to guarantee it, but your local back is going to make it so it is going to be quick because they know you are set up to give money out.”He says if businesses can prove the loan money was spent on payroll or other necessary business operations, then the loan will become a grant they don’t have to pay back.