INFORMATION ON COVID-19 & TRAVEL

The Mississippi Tourism Association is closely monitoring the rapidly-increasing situation associated with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The health and safety of our state’s residents and visitors is Mississippi Tourism Association’s highest priority. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) a Global Health Emergency. We continue to monitor the situation along with our local, state and national partners to ensure we keep our guests and communities safe.

 


Resources for Partners

Tourism Resources

 

Small Business Resources

  • Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application Process Now Open
  • The Paycheck Protection Program has information posted but banks will not start accepting applications until April 3, at the earliest.
  • U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) Disaster Relief Loans
  • Small Business Survival Guide to Combat COVID-19

  • Mississippi Humanities Council is launching an emergency grant program to help support cultural organizations that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis with funding from Congress through the CARES Act. These CARES Emergency Grants will provide unrestricted operational expenses up to $20,000 for humanities-focused cultural nonprofit organizations in Mississippi for up to two months. During the COVID-19 crisis, state humanities councils are uniquely positioned to provide emergency CARES Act funding to museums, historic sites, and other nonprofit organizations affected by the pandemic. The humanities councils serve the smallest and most vulnerable communities and institutions and are able to reach areas that receive few other cultural resources. To meet this need, the National Endowment for the Humanities has distributed 40 percent of its national CARES Act appropriation, or $30 million, directly to the state councils to support grants to eligible entities for general operating support and humanities programming in direct response to the COVID-19 crisis. The Mississippi Humanities Council has received $460,000 to distribute through CARES Emergency Grants to help support payroll and other general operations expenses. Matching funds are not required with these emergency grants. More details, including grant guidelines and applications, are now available on the Humanities Council’s website: mshumanities.org. Starting April 22, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Offers Emergency Relief Funding to Cultural Institutions Affected by Coronavirus.
    Anchoring an $878 billion domestic creative economy, museums and historic sites are reporting losses of $1 billion a month as education programs, exhibitions, and other events have been canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress Recognized that nonprofit humanities organizations are an essential component of America’s economic and civic life by including in the CARES Act  $75 million to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to sustain humanities organizations and preserve jobs. The NEH has released its funding guidelines and application process. $30 million has been allocated for state and jurisdictional humanities council to support local groups and educational programming. Those funds have been distributed and state and regional humanities councils should be posting information on how to apply for grants shortly.
    $45 million has been allocated for an emergency relief grants program, NEH CARES:  Cultural Organizations, which will provide grants of up to $300,000 to cultural non-profits to support a range of humanities activities across the fields of education, preservation and access, public programming, digital humanities, and scholarly research. Funding may be used for short-term activities that emphasize retraining or hiring staff and to maintain or adapt critical programs during the pandemic. Eligible institutions include, museums, archives, libraries, historic sites, universities, and other educational institutions. The deadline to apply is May 11, 2020. Award notifications will be made by June 2020. Detailed information on the program and the application can be accessed here:  https://www.neh.gov/program/neh-cares-cultural-organizations

 

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency is gathering information on the economic loss to small businesses throughout the state as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.  The Process is to collect information so that Mississippi may request an Economic Injury Declaration from the Small Business Administration to aid in the economic loss suffered as a result of the COVID-19 event. After business owners complete the worksheets included below, they can submit them directly to the MEMA State Coordinating Officer Todd DeMuth at tdemuth@mema.ms.gov., for inclusion into the SBA declaration request. The deadline to submit this information is April 1st.

Provided by Leake County Chamber of Commerce

 

Unemployment Resources


Upcoming Webinars

 

 


Closures/Cancellations

State, County & City Shutdowns due to COVID 19

Provided by MEMA

 

This list of Cancellations, Closures & Postponements will be constantly updated as provided by the individual communities:

  • Casinos closed as of Monday, March 16 at midnight until further notice (Does not include casinos on tribal land.)
  • Coastal Mississippi Event Changes
  • Columbus, MS Spring Pilgrimage
  • Double Decker Arts Festival, Oxford – Postponed to August 14-15
  • Euro Auto Fest, Natchez
  • Festival of Music 30th Season – all events, Natchez
  • Grand Village of the Natchez Indians Powwow
  • Greenwood Gravel Grind – Postponed to September 26
  • Hal’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade
  • Hattiesburg Zoo, Lake Terrace Convention Center, Saenger Theater, and the African American Military Museum – Temporarily Closed until at-least March 31st
  • Hattiesburg Cancellations
  • Historic Natchez Tableaux
  • Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, MS
  • Malco Theatres Temporarily Closing all Locations
  • Mississippi Children’s Museum – Temporarily Closed
  • Mississippi Main Street Event Cancellations
  • Natchez Spring Pilgrimage
  • Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival
  • Royal Evening at Longwood
  • Save the Hall Ball,  Natchez
  • Stanton Hall: Blues & Jaxx with Julep in Hand
  • Vicksburg Pilgrimage – March 20-22 Cancelled
  • Viking Half Marathon & 5K – Postponed Date – TBD

 


Executive Orders / Legislative Alerts

05/08/2020

Executive Safer at Home Order Amended and the Opening of Gyms and Salons – Executive Order 1480

05/04/2020

Amended Mississippi Safer in Place Order and the Opening of Restaurants – Executive Order 1478

04/24/2020

Mississippi Safer in Place Order – Executive Order 1477

04/15/2020

Mississippi Shelter in Place Extended – Executive Order 1473

04/01/2020

Mississippi Shelter in Place – Executive Order 1466

03/27/2020

Summary of The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Provided by U.S. Travel Association

03/26/2020

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
Provided by MEC

 

03/24/2020

Essential Business or Operations are established by Executive Order 1463
Provided by MEMA

 

03/23/2020

Negotiations of Phase III of the coronavirus relief package are happening right now in Congress, with a critical vote expected TODAY. We need your help to make sure immediate financial support is included for the travel and tourism industry.

We have updated our Action Alert to include very specific recommendations that will better help our industry in this time of need. If you’ve previously sent a letter to Congress through this alert, YOU MAY DO SO AGAIN! We need as many advocates as possible to engage at this critical moment.

MESSAGE CONGRESS NOW

Please take two minutes to submit this alert NOW and urge your industry colleagues and networks to do the same. Our industry is counting on it.

Regards,

Ben Cowlishaw
Manager, Grassroots and PAC
U.S. Travel Association

3/21/2020

Governor Executive Order 1462

 

03/18/2020

Immediate Action Needed: Urge Congress to Act Now for Hotel Relief – Please send a message to Congress to vote in favor of the relief efforts to support our hotels and team members who are impacted by this crisis. It is a simple form that you can click through in seconds. Please include your stories on the impact to you, your hotel and your team. There is a text field in the form where you can type. Please Act Now! Information provided by the American (AHLA) and MS Tourism Association.
 

 

 

03/16/2020

Tell Your Senator to Fix the Coronavirus Relief Bill!
The House recently and overwhelmingly passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201), which was supported by the President. Given the unique nature and magnitude of this crisis, as well as the expedited timeframe, there is extremely limited opportunity to make changes to the legislation and the Senate is expected to vote on it as soon as later today (Monday).
The House bill admirably provides federal support to allow employers to offer paid leave to employees suffering from coronavirus. However, the mechanism to do so – with small businesses paying for it, and having to wait for a substantial timeframe to be reimbursed from the government, in the form of payroll tax credits – creates substantial challenges for restaurants that are already struggling to maintain cash-flow.

Ask your Senator to: Fix the coronavirus relief bill and immediately pass additional measures aimed at providing critical relief to restaurants!

Click the link below to email your Senators Now!

https://p2a.co/SxUy33C