Amid the widespread economic carnage wrought by the pandemic in 2020, somehow tiny Block Island and its tourist-dependent businesses emerged to fight another day.
“No business has closed … but it’s still a struggle,” said Jessica Willi, Block Island Tourism Council executive director.
The savior for what many on the island feared might be a disastrous tourism season was a strong late summer and fall finish. Remarkably, amid restrictions on businesses and public gatherings, September hotel tax collections on the island actually topped the same month in 2019.
That’s a testament to the island’s enduring allure and the efforts by local businesses to do whatever was necessary to help make guests feel welcome and safe.
“Monitoring and enforcing capacity limits made the summer of 2020 as far from normal as I could ever have imagined,” said John Cullen, owner of three retail stores on the island.
But he and the rest of the island’s businesses survived. There’s still worry about what they face this year but also hope that vaccinations will bring the return of a more familiar summer.