This was a column that mentions the state of the local hospitality industry in 2009
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/col...s_workers.html
Since the early 1970s, San Antonio's River Walk has given our city much of its global identity, hosting millions of visitors each year. It is also a good barometer of the state of our huge tourism industry.
Sunday, after a great brunch at a River Walk hotel, I was surprised that the check was less than I paid previously. Then, a server confided that she and her co-workers — whose income is primarily from tips — had worried because so few reservations were made for the day. And there have been other worries, she said.
“Many conventions have canceled,” she said. “This economy is hurting us.”
On the River Walk, it was, as expected, August hot. But the crowd seemed thinner than usual.
I have long questioned the wisdom of investing so heavily in the “hospitality industry,” most of whose workers earn low wages, and get few, if any, benefits. After all, travel is among the most discretionary of expenditures for businesses and families alike.
When tourism declines, so do prices and tax revenues. Sagging occupancy rates lead to room-rate discounts and empty restaurant tables to price cuts.
Both reduce tax revenues further. But the real price is paid by workers who lose work hours.
Yes, tourism has its benefits. With our occupancy tax — one of the nation's highest — tourists pay for our city's big advertising budget and contribute to city arts and cultural groups. They are also paying for the ever-expanding Convention Center and funding River Walk improvements. And along with car-rental taxes, they paid for the AT&T Center and are paying for its never-ending improvements.
Tourists also beef up our sales tax and liquor-by-the-drink tax revenues.
But as budgets tighten, travel is slowing. And with unemployment around 10 percent nationally — and fueling anxieties — it isn't surprising that “staycation” has entered the American vocabulary.
It is also crimping the lives of tourism workers in ways few of us appreciate.
Gabriel Morales is a 30-year-old “in-room dining server.” He delivers room-service orders at the Grand Hyatt, whose workers are supposed to have the city's best working conditions after the operator agreed to concessions in exchange for building on city land at low rents, with city-backed financing and generous tax breaks.
Morales has been racking up decent hours since the Dallas Cowboys training camp headquartered at his hotel, he says. But working 38 hours this week and 42 last week, he is still a part-timer without health insurance.
“If I need to see a doctor, I'll have to choose between that and paying the rent,” he says. “And some people have worked 99 hours, and they are still part time.”
How badly our tourism industry is affected is yet to be determined.
Substantial tax revenue declines have been expected since at least April. But Wednesday, their magnitude became known. Occupancy taxes have declined 9 percent in the last year. And sales tax revenues, which were $198.3 million in 2008, are expected to be only $189.6 million in 2010.
Bad as that is, can you imagine the price the hospitality industry's front-line soldiers are paying?
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