Indianapolis honors hospitality workers, celebrates state of tourism
A view from the annual ROSE Awards and the Visit Indy State of Tourism address on May 4, 2021, at Indiana Convention Center Sagamore Ballroom in Indianapolis. (WISH Photo)
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mayor Joe Hogsett honored city hospitality workers Tuesday at the 30th annual ROSE Awards, and Visit Indy also offered its state of tourism report.
Estimates suggests roughly 40% of the city’s tourism workforce was unemployed in 2020 because of the pandemic, and the city lost close to $612 million in convention business. Still, Indianapolis hosted more than 200 in-person events in 2020. Indy also played host to all games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year.
Hogsett said, “However, as the true scope of the pandemic presented itself, we in iIndianapolis did not sit idle.”
The 2020 ROSE Awards happened just two days before President Donald Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency.