Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: Many Americans Staying Close to Home in Wake of September 11th Attacks

Aired October 02, 2001 - 08:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Many Americans staying close to home in the wake of the September 11th attacks. Some say it's fear of terrorism, or perhaps uncertainty about their jobs. Perhaps a little bit of both. Whatever it is, the tourism industry is feeling the pain. We're going to visit three destinations now.

First CNN's Leon Harris at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta, a little farther south, CNN's John Zarrella at South Beach in Miami Beach, and on the West Coast, CNN's Rusty Dornin on the waterfront in San Francisco.

Rusty, since you got up so early, we're going to go to you first.

What's the story out there?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm at the Java House, which is oldest waterfront restaurant in San Francisco. It was built in 1912. It's seen every up and down the city has had to offer following the 1906 earthquake. And the owners are Philip and Susie Papadopaoulos. Now Philip Papadopaoulos has been through a rather tough year this year from the beginning. The blackouts began. We had the high energy costs.

What's happened to your business just in the last few weeks?

PHILIP PAPADOPAOULOS, OWNER, THE JAVA HOUSE: The last few weeks, business went down more than 50 percent.

DORNIN: Now, who are the customers you usually see. We are here on the waterfront. You are right next to Pac Bell Park. But who are the people you are usually seeing this time of year?

PAPADOPAOULOS: My customers this year used to be 80 percent tourists and about 20, 30 percent local, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) usually. And since the September bombing, the tourists have disappeared.

DORNIN: Now you have some local clientele here as well, right, that keeps you going?

PAPADOPAOULOS: Yes.

DORNIN: That keeps you going? Have they been rallying around lately? PAPADOPAOULOS: Oh yes, oh yes.

DORNIN: You are having many of those.

But you are also saying you haven't been seeing people from overseas coming.

PAPADOPAOULOS: Exactly.

DORNIN: Who are you usually seeing this time of year?

PAPADOPAOULOS: People from -- mostly European, and then the next biggest jump is from Japan.

DORNIN: Anything been picking up in the last few days at all?

PAPADOPAOULOS: Slowly, slowly picking up.

DORNIN: Philip Papadopaoulos, thank you very much for joining us from Java House here in San Francisco.

I have been speaking to cab drivers, people at fisherman's wharf. People say there's been a slight increase in the past few days. And the big piece of good news for people here in San Francisco is the big attraction, the Golden Gate Bridge, finally was opened to pedestrians and bicycles. It had been closed since the attacks, so the main attraction in San Francisco is open for business -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, an importantly symbolic move. Rusty Dornin, time for breakfast.

Thanks for joining us. We appreciate that.

Let's send it now to Atlanta, Georgia. This is a town that depends an awful lot on its airport. It's a big convention town.

And Leon Harris is at the Four Seasons, where the more well- heeled conventioneers tend to stay. Leon, what's the story there?

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, thank you. Miles. It's not just conventioneers. Also, lots of business clients are at businesses that use the hotels for conventions for other purposes as well.

As you mention, the airline industry is very closely tied to the hotel industry here in Atlanta.

And we are joined this morning here in Atlanta at the Four Seasons Hotel by the general manager, Christoph Schmidinger, who's been giving us a picture of what the last month here at this hotel has been like. We've talked about how the economy was slowing down going into September, but how have things changed for you since the beginning of September?

CHRISTOPH SCHMIDINGER, GEN. MANAGER, FOUR SEASONS HOTEL: Well, obviously, September was badly effected by the event. All of the conventions, all the meetings, were canceled because of the change of travel habits of the customers.

We noticed that the majority of our cancellation for the entire year were in 19th days of September. However, while it has dramatically improved in October and November, we are seeing cancellations, and the business pickup is not what it was before, obviously.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are seeing requests coming back, we see some relocations of meetings and conventions, which were held in other parts of the nation to come to Atlanta because of the accessibility. We talked to our customers who have postponed meeting and conventions, which was supposed to be held this year, and now we move to the early part of next year.

So business comes back. We definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.

HARRIS: All right, well that could be also because this hotel, Miles, as Christoph was just telling me a few minutes ago is a bit unique, because of the fact it is an upscale hotel, and it also does both business if you will, and just regular guest services, guest accommodations because. It was perfectly poised to actually weather what we have seen happen in the past month. That plus the fact that it is not that big, 250 rooms versus some of the other hotels you've seen around, like the 1,300 room hotels. They have been really hit hard.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Leon Harris at the Four Seasons in Atlanta.

And speaking of seasons, the tourist season is upon us in Florida. That's where we find CNN's John Zarrella. He's in South Beach.

And I assume they are biting their fingernails as they look toward the heavy travel season, the snowbird season, if you will, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question, Miles. Now this is typically a slow period, but the weather is beautiful down here. You'd expect to find vacationers here, people here on South Beach, but there are very few people here. You can look down the treat. You can see just a smattering of folks gathered at the outside coffee shops, the restaurants. Now they estimate that in Miami-Dade County alone, they are losing $15,000,000 a day in tourism, 96 percent of the people that come here, come by airplane, and that is just not happening right now. We can take a look across the street at the beach. This is the famous South Beach you are seeing now, and of course it is empty.

You would expect also, even though this is the slow time, that the beach would be crowded. It just simply isn't.

Here at the Clevelander Hotel, where we are standing, they say that business has been slowed down about 30, 40 percent, but they expect a big weekend this weekend, a little bit of a rebound, because the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots, who are coming to town, have a big game here at Pro Players Stadium this weekend. They expect to be 90 percent full, so at least, a little bit of a spike -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's John Zarrella, thank you very much, reporting from Miami Beach.

And thanks to all of our correspondents, Dornin, Harris, and Zarrella. Our team this morning giving us a little taste of what's going on in the world tourism in the wake of the September 11th attacks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com