Memorial Day weekend is the traditional kick off to the Mount Washington Valley’s next tourist season but with stay at home orders Governor Sununu’s emergency order restricting hotels and lodging providers to only offer housing to essential workers and vulnerable populations, it won’t be a blockbuster.

So where are we at now as a state and as a tourist destination?   Janice Crawford, Executive Director for the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce tells us: “We’re trying very hard to make sure we have a safe destination, we want to make sure people can trust us when they make reservations that we’ve been following all the guidelines required by the state and federal level and so I just want to share with our lodging properties and our Airbnb owners that we are very much opposed to allowing anyone to come into the state to stay.  Even from the state of New Hampshire because at this point in time, the state has not opened up lodging.”  There are currently no guidance documents from the state of New Hampshire to follow at this time to ensure the safety of lodging staff or guests.

The NH.gov website states that for safety purposes people should remain in their home state until additional restrictions are lifted.  It also states that individuals who travel to and stay in New Hampshire for an extended period of time to self-quarantine for a 2 week period.

Governor Sununu spoke with WMUR and explains; ”Hotels, especially in New Hampshire, because of tourism,  are designed on the idea that we are going to attract people from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut .  Normally we would like to have those folks right here, but to open right now and attract that tourism business in we need to see the other state’s numbers go down.  Here we are looking at different guidance and how it might be done here and put a lot of guidelines and restrictions but, we are definitely not there yet and unfortunately, I cannot say when it’s going to be but probably not in the near future.”

Keep up to date with the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce website.

Governor Sununu starts the briefing: “We hope everyone had a great weekend.  The sun was out and clearly late spring, summer is in the air and people are excited to see what we can do to get back to normalcy.”

Efforts are underway to reopen the state safely.  The governor announced today that the state will allow opening up outdoor activities that occur outdoors or in natural settings for groups of no more than 10 with safety restrictions in place.  These categories include, centers for biking, canoe and kayak rentals, mini-golf, outdoor driving ranges, outdoor shooting ranges, small fishing charters and paintball.  Bigger tourist attractions will remain closed under the guidance but will remain in consideration for future reopening phases.

Governor Sununu has also released a general guidance document for childcare centers to protect the staff, and children.  Some of these guidelines include providers and other staff using face coverings as well as all adults dropping off children.  The document includes guidelines for handwashing for both adults and children.  Staff and children will be screened daily for symptoms of, or exposure to COVID-19.  It also talks about guidelines for social distancing and encourages more outdoor time.

Equestrian centers will also be allowed to open and a guidance document has been complied for that category as well.

A guidance document for outdoor dining has been provided as well during this new release of information.

“We’re all pushing ourselves and challenging ourselves to see what can be done in a smart and step-wise manner. And specifically some of the areas we’ve been focusing on relate to personal care and so, we are hoping to get some additional guidance out later in the week and a lot of businesses can start to plan and re-staff up and open in a short period.” says Governor Sununu.

For more information and a complete list of guidance documents released today, please visit nh.gov.