Coronavirus on Tour
One of my tour guides told me that “the French Quarter’s residents are hungry and angry.” He was referring to the gigantic rats and unfortunate homeless folks (or “houseless,” I’m not 100% clear on the acceptable term, apologies) who have made the Quarter their home for dare I say centuries. Those “citizens” of the French Quarter are not what most people think of when talking about New Orleans. But underneath the Mardi Gras beads, the Go-Cups, and the Second Lines lives another world.
Tourism Today. Right Now.
I am the General Manager for a Ghost Tour Company who operates tours in multiple cities. We walk people around some of the most magical and mysterious cities in the US. We secretly educate our guests about the rich history of these places by way of ghostly legends and haunted tales. I love that people leave our tours knowing what Code Noir was and that the ghosts of many Octaroon Mistresses still roam the Vieux Carre. And I’m worried that our mission to educate and preserve history is in jeopardy.
Karen Mills, a fellow at Harvard Business School, suggests that small businesses have cash buffers of just 27 days, “so one can anticipate that many of them will run out of cash” during this coronavirus mess. When a small business runs out of cash, it’s basically hammering nails into a coffin. How do we navigate this? How do we face fear head-on, with our…
