Palm Springs declares financial emergency ahead of weekend that would have attracted thousands for Stagecoach & White Party
The City of Palm Springs has declared a financial emergency amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The stay-at-home order has been significantly hurting the city’s tourism industry. This upcoming weekend alone would have brought thousands to the valley for events like Stagecoach and White Party.
The city says the financial impact is widespread -- impacting this year's fiscal budget that runs through June. It will likely affect next year's budget as well. The decision came out late Thursday night at the city council meeting.
The fiscal emergency provides the city manager the ability to investigate and make recommendations on how to lessen the financial impact of the pandemic. “We have a resolution to declare a fiscal emergency and the importance of that is it’s a recognition...that what we see is a very serious problem and that we need to focus on it and get a plan back to council so that we can move forward to get through this crisis,” said city manager David Ready.
Council further discussed how the stay-at-home order has been significantly hurting the city's tourism industry which would usually be generating big revenue right now. This upcoming weekend would have brought in millions of dollars for Stagecoach and White Party events.
With fans staying home this year, local hotels are hurting. "Just for the Hilton alone compared to April of last year...we’re going to be doing 5% revenue compared to last year," said Aftab Dada, vice-president & managing director, Hilton Palm Springs.
Dada added the Hilton is losing upwards of two million dollars this month alone. "All those events primarily in the month of April...being the biggest month for almost every single hotel. Not only in the city of Palm Springs but all over the Coachella Valley.”
People can still take part in certain events virtually this year. White Party will be streaming music on their Facebook Live platform, and Stagecoach is offering “Stagecouch” this year, where fans can tune in on the festival's Instagram and SiriusXM to enjoy live country music.
