HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0970.010 2018-2020 i
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From: Rich Kersten
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2020 10:35 AM
To; Council Testimony COUNTY CLERK
Cc: Holly CKersten COUNTY � �EI D
Subject: Testimony 666-20 Time am By—a—r
Date. JUL 0 Z 202
Aloha Honorable Councilmembers
I am writing on behalf of our concerns in regards to the allocations of the $80 million CARES Act funding that the
County of Hawaii has received and how these funds are to be dispersed. Sea Paradise is a small business here on the
west side in Kailua Kona. We offer sailing and snorkeling tours for our local residents and visitors. We have been in
operation since 1985. Thought the years we have weathered many storms from actual hurricanes, tsunamis, to even
certain economy down falls such as the housing market crash earlier in this decade. Sea Paradise had persevered and
survived those very difficult times, today however is something of another beast. COVID-19 has devastated our
economy! Our industry (Ocean Tour Operators) is very heavily reliant on tourism, with the governors proclamation
order that all visitors must quarantine for 14 days has literally dropped visitors to a standstill.
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Since COVID-19 took its grip on our state back in March our business has suffered hundreds of thousands in loss
revenues and we continue to loose revenues daily as we continue to refand future bookings. When the Federal
Government had announced the CARES Act for the PPP and the SBA EIDL we applied immediately for aid. We
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were one of the lucky ones and received the PPP, unfortunately our permit through DLNR/DOBOR commercial
permits to operate had not been reinstated at the time we received the PPP funding therefore we could not bring back
any of our laid off staff. Most of the PPP has been used to refund clients that had prebooked tours. Our application for
the CARES Act EIDL through SBA failed to fund what we had applied for and therefore we are struggling to just stay
afloat. We were fortunate to have most of our overhead expenses like rent, automobile loans, bank loans, electric,
mortgage etc... deferred but now the deferral is up and we need to make large payments to keep us open. With the
very little local resident bookings that we can scrounge up, we are extremely desperate for financial aid.
We ask that you consider our industry "Ocean Tour Operators" a very viable industry. When the world does get back
to a "new normal" people will want to travel here to our wonderful island again. Visitors will want to enjoy the ocean
again and they will want to travel to beautiful destinations like Kealakekua Bay. If we are not able to get some type of
financial aid from our government we will not make it. Please help our industry through these hard time when you
meet to discuss how to disperse the $80 million.
Sincerely,
Richard Kersten
President/Sea Paradise
78-6839 AN Drive Ste, 944
Kailua Kona.H196740
rich(dr)seaparadise.corn
www.seaparadise.com
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