AKRON, Ohio — The Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau created the "Akron REbound" initiative to help the area’s businesses bounce back from COVID-19. And although the pandemic is not over, the organization's president Gregg Mervis says it’s not too early to create a pathway forward.

• Akron REbound is sharing information and developing strategies to regain the momentum the area has word hard to achieve for the tourism and hospitality setor.
• The Convention & Visitors Bureau has partnered with several local organizations to plan Akron’s rebound including the Ohio Travel Association
• For some businesses, the rebound includes rethinking and adjusting business operations

“There's three phases in the arc of a crisis — first is triage, second is care and feeding and third is rebounding. Now, we're not ready to rebound yet, but when we get there, our thought is  we don't want to all of a sudden say okay, it's time to rebound, what should we do? While we have the time and have the resources, we wanted to do this rebound to provide support for institutions and the businesses who define our community," said Mervis, who is president of the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau said.

Mervis says Akron REbound is sharing information and developing strategies to regain the momentum the area has worked hard to achieve for the tourism and hospitality sector. He’s hopeful that as soon as it’s safe to do so, people will support the local economy, and businesses have to be ready.

“People will want to gather and they will want to travel and they will get out and do things again. And that gives me hope for the economic vitality of our future,” he said.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau has partnered with several local organizations to plan Akron’s rebound, including the Ohio Travel Association, whose mission is to enhance the Ohio economy through travel. Executive director Melinda Huntley says  travel will be essential for the area's economic recovery. 

“The tourism industry isn't always necessarily top-of-mind when you think about top industries, but never before have we seen what happens to an economy when travel completely stops. There is research out there that'sbshowing that the length of time for economic recovery due to a pandemic can be shortened if we're smart about encouraging travel, encouraging spending hand-in-hand with our public health officials and getting people out there to spend and back to normal when we're able to,” Huntley said.

Another rebound partner, Greater Akron Chamber, supports 1,500 area businesses. President Steve Millard says for some businesses, the rebound includes rethinking and adjusting business operations. 

“Think about how many small restaurants still weren’t taking credit cards, weren’t doing delivery and takeout, right? They had to totally redefine to be able to do that at this point. So they're never going to go back, and so I think a lot of these new normals are going to redefine what the economy looks like for us longer term,” Millard said.

Huntley says although she’s not sure when, she knows the rebound of Akron, as well as the entire state of Ohio, will happen and she’s glad to be a part of preparing for it. 

“Ohio is really well-situated to use travel in the future as a way to recover and you'll notice I said in the future. Travel is in our DNA. We like to experience new things, it's who we are, and that will be ever so important,” Huntley said.