Beaches, hotels and pools reopening as Miami-Dade tries to get its tourism back

Miami-Dade’s tourism industry spent 10 weeks smothered by coronavirus restrictions that shut down beaches and closed hotels to vacationers and most business travelers.

UPDATED: Beaches won’t reopen June 1 as planned in Miami-Dade, mayor says

Monday begins the uphill task of convincing visitors to return while local governments police against the kind of fun in the sun that risks COVID-19 outbreaks.

“No volleyball. No soccer. No Frisbee. No paddle ball. No dogs or pets will be allowed on the beaches for now,” Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Friday in an online event previewing the new rules accompanying his June 1 lifting of closure orders for beaches and community pools.

“There will be no fishing, except for specially designated areas that will allow for social distancing. ... If you’re planning on meeting friends at the beach, you need to keep a distance of six feet from them.”

Sensitive to the potential for national coverage of beach crowds, the county’s Parks Department said it has hired another 400 temporary rangers to serve as “Beach Ambassadors” enforcing social-distancing rules along the coast. The county hired the first 400 in late April when parks reopened, the first in a string of steps to unwind blanket closures ordered by Gimenez in March.

Monday also will mean looser rules on the beaches in Broward, which reopened the coast earlier than Miami-Dade but with restrictions against loitering on the sand.

On Friday, Broward announced new rules that mirror Miami-Dade’s June 1 regulations: Sitting on the beach will be allowed, and people can bring their own umbrellas and chairs. Masks are required to enter the beach, but can be removed for swimming and once people sit down on the sand.

Broward also announced looser rules than Miami-Dade on other fronts: Tattoo parlors and massage establishments can now operate under new rules. Doubles tennis — still banned in Miami-Dade — no longer violates emergency law in Broward.

Across South Florida, residents will have more outdoors options. The Shark Valley and Gulf Coast visitor areas at Everglades National Park will reopen on June 1, as will Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne, the island’s mayor said Friday.

The Florida Keys also will once again be open to visitors, with checkpoints on U.S. 1 ending June 1. While hotels in Monroe County remained open, local authorities took the extraordinary step of closing the island chain to all non-residents. Those rules are lifted Monday.

While Miami-Dade hotels were allowed to continue selling rooms to healthcare workers, stranded tourists, media employees and other “essential” guests, most closed completely. Starting Monday, hotels can sell rooms to anyone, but that doesn’t mean all are returning to the market.

“We had about 58,000 hotel rooms pre-pandemic,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer for the county’s tourism bureau, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I wish I could tell you how many of those hotel rooms will be open June 1. I think the majority.”

For the Royal Palm hotel on South Beach, Re-Opening Day won’t be anything approaching a rush. But it’s not going to be dead, either.

“On Monday, we have about 40 arrivals,” said Patrick Reece, general manager at the 393-room Marriott. He said about half of the hotels’ rooms could be full over the weekend. “I’m happy. Our trend has been a lot better than we anticipated.”

Even so, the Royal Palm is bringing back only about a third of its workforce for the week. The reduced staffing captures the challenge ahead in rebuilding Miami-Dade’s hospitality sector, with demand anemic and consumer spending depressed by high unemployment and uncertainty about the future of coronavirus outbreaks.

Miami International Airport remains desolate compared to its typical spring traffic.

On Thursday, about 11,000 passengers came through the terminals for 114 flights. A year ago, the number was nearly 120,000 passengers on more than 880 flights. Even so, the trends have inched slightly toward a more positive arc. While traffic is down about 90 percent as May comes to a close, it was down about 96 percent at the end of April.

“The last few weeks have seen the highest numbers yet since the downturn in March,” said spokesman Gregory Chin.

Relaunching the tourism industry coincides with Gimenez lifting emergency closures on commercial pools, including those in condo towers and community areas. New rules require social distancing on the pool decks and in the water, even though the coronavirus doesn’t survive a chlorine dunk.

“If we were fish, we’d be fine,” Gimenez said Friday. “We actually have to come up to breathe. ... You want to keep away from everybody.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 6:15 AM.