Closed Roads Choke Lake Tahoe Tourism

Dinner waits at the Red Hut Cafe in South Lake Tahoe are usually an hour or more this time of year. But not these days, not after the recent rainstorms shut down the major roads leading to the heart of this region’s $1-billion tourist industry.

“There’s no wait now,” said Red Hut’s unhappy owner, Nancy Gardner, grumbling that Lake Tahoe wasn’t awash and that people should be flocking to the popular ski resort. “The snow is cold, crisp and fabulous,” she said.

Ski conditions in South Lake Tahoe are indeed heavenly, thanks to the downpour that nearly flooded businesses a couple of thousand feet below in Tahoe’s main commercial district.

But while South Lake Tahoe and the less commercialized North Shore saw little physical damage, the closure of U.S. Highway 50 and Reno-Tahoe Airport dealt a big financial blow to the region.

Hoteliers such as Embassy Suites Resorts in South Lake Tahoe saw their occupancy rates plummet to 30% during the normally packed New Year’s holiday. At nearby Harveys Casino & Resorts on the Nevada side, marketing director Laura Cotter was expecting about 25,000 people to revel at the hotel on New Year’s Eve. About 7,000 showed up, she said.

Other merchants reported a drop of 25%, on average, in business since the watery deluge began at the start of the year, according to the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

Rooms, restaurants and ski runs had slowly begun to fill up this week. The Reno airport, half an hour away from North Shore, has reopened. But Highway 50, the main artery that links South Lake Tahoe with the rest of Northern California, isn’t expected to open completely until Jan. 31.

Merchants hope the worst is over. But the visitors authority, which represents some of the area’s 2,000 businesses on the California side, is trying to raise $250,000 to launch a marketing blitz and rescue the critical winter business from further devastation.

The late-December-to-March ski season accounts for roughly 40% of the region’s tourist dollars, said Ron Spellecy, the authority’s executive director.

“They’re apprehensive,” said Spellecy, who has been leading daily meetings with dozens of grim-faced local business owners at Harveys.

But Spellecy learned Monday that Highway 50 would be open this month, including limited passage during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and the more critical Super Bowl weekend. “It’s outstanding news,” he said.

There are a couple of alternate routes to the Lake Tahoe area, including Emigrant Pass, which is expected to open Friday evening. That’s the kind of information the authority’s advertising blitz will be driving home in coming days. So far, the authority has raised $50,000 from merchants, he said.

Even so, Spellecy said nearly every visitor from the Bay Area and Sacramento--which account for the bulk of the tourists--typically takes Highway 50. So its quick reopening remains the key to many merchants.

“If it stays closed any longer [than Jan. 31], we could be devastated,” said Tom Davis, managing partner of Tahoe Keys Resorts.

In the meantime, some businesses are conducting a mini-marketing campaign of their own with callers, in some cases almost daring people not to come and enjoy the fresh snow.

“Skiing has never been better, and true skiers and snowboarders won’t be bothered by any difficulty getting in,” said Steve Selberg, general manager of Embassy Suites Resort.

He said his 400-room hotel lost $100,000 in the first week of January and that employees lost work hours. But Selberg said things are looking up.

As of late Tuesday, he said, there were just 35 rooms left for this weekend. About a quarter of the hotel’s guests typically come from Southern California.

“We’re amazed at how quickly we’re recovering,” he said.

David Turner, marketing manager for Caesar’s Hotel & Casino, wasn’t quite so upbeat.

The 440-room hotel generally is sold out about this time of year, Turner said. But occupancy is now running at about 60%, he said.

“We haven’t received too many cancellations,” Turner said, but then added, “We haven’t had too many people calling in for reservations.”