Detroit tourism seeks rebound after year lost to pandemic

Tourism leaders in Detroit are banking on a return of conventions and business meetings shut down last year due to the coronavirus pandemic

DETROIT -- Timothy Tharp has owned businesses in Detroit long enough to remember when parts of downtown resembled a ghost town. He’s also seen its resurgence with new restaurants, hotels and throngs of people since the city's emergence from bankruptcy. Then came COVID-19 and people stopped coming. Tharp estimates his three restaurants and bars have lost a combined $1 million since March 2020. But now as vaccinations increase and government-ordered lockdowns and restrictions are lifted, Tharpe believes the coronavirus pandemic could be remembered as just another hurdle the Motor City has overcome. “We’ve gotten used to the apocalypse over and over and over again,” said Tharp who owns Grand Trunk Pub, the Whisky Parlor and the Checker Bar in and around downtown. “We crawl out of the ashes and rise again every 10 years. That’s what we do.”