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Editor s note: A Year of COVID-19, The State Journal-Register s in-depth look at the pandemic s impact on our lives, continues through March. Watch for stories of challenge and triumph, ingenuity and perseverance, survival and lives remembered.
Springfield’s hotel occupancy rate in January was 27.2%, the lowest monthly rate ever recorded since statistics began being kept almost three decades ago, and the rate was 16 percentage points lower than the same month in 2020.
The statistics were emblematic of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Springfield as a travel and tourism destination.
“It’s been devastating over the past year,” said Scott Dahl, director of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau.