This story is part of The Enquirer’s ongoing coverage tracking the region’s economic recovery efforts.
Kings Island is set to open to season pass holders this weekend and to the general public on May 15.
Park officials are counting on visitors to flood back to the Mason amusement park after many stayed away during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They believe pent-up demand to get out, a hunger to return to normalcy and growing confidence from mass vaccinations will shut down the beleaguered industry’s own roller coaster ride of the last year.
General manager Mike Koontz says demand is still down from 2019 levels but rebounding. One of North America’s busiest parks, Kings Island attracted more than 3 million visitors in 2019.
starting [Sunday], I think will be a big help.
“And [with] pent-up consumer demand,” Futrell continued, “people, I think, are really going to want to go out . once everybody gets vaccinated, and try to resume as normal a life as possible.”
The Allegheny Conference report is based on employment data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. It covers Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
Its February job figures represent a 7.5% decline in employment since February 2020, the last month before COVID-19 forced the widespread closure of businesses. Following an upswing in hiring last summer, year-over-year job losses in the Pittsburgh area have hovered between 7.5 and 8.6% each month over the past six months, the Allegheny Conference said in its report.
Tony LaRussa And Megan Tomasic
Thursday, April 8, 2021 1:00 p.m.
| Thursday, April 8, 2021 1:00 p.m.
Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review
Hari Elluru and his wife Shyamala moved to Franklin Park with their son Achuth and daughter Lohith to provide the children with the best possible education they could find. The family is among the thousands of people who have moved to the North Hills in the past decade even as the population has shrunk in the county, region and state.
Tony LaRussa | Tribune-Review
Construction crews have worked through the winter and the coronavirus pandemic on the 193-unit McCandless Square senior living development. The project being built on the site of the former Trader Horn store and another store torn down in spring 2020.
Megan Harris / 90.5 WESA
Pandemic-related job losses hobbled the local economy through the winter, with the Pittsburgh region sustaining 87,800 fewer jobs in February compared to a year before, according to a new report from the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. But more recent, and more encouraging, national figures suggest the local economy could start to turn around in coming months.
That s the assessment of Jim Futrell, vice president of market research at the Allegheny Conference. He cites as evidence the fact that in March, the country experienced its largest jobs gain since August.
“I think what that does is give a good leading indication of some of the things we might see here in the region as we go into spring,” Futrell said. “The lifting of the restaurant restrictions starting [Sunday], I think will be a big help.
The region’s leisure and hospitality sector is in dire economic straits, according to a report issued earlier this month from the Allegheny Conference on