By WHITNEE ICESt. Joseph PostNational Travel and Tourism Week is here and the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau wants to celebrate the week with community members after a very hard year for the industry.Bureau Spokeswoman Beth Conway says this week has been celebrated for 38 years. “National Travel and Tourism Week was created by congress in 1983 just to recognize the economic power of travel and tourism in the United States,” Conway tells St. Joseph Post. Conway says the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau will be hosting a live radio broadcast by KKJO, 1550 FM, Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the downtown location, 911 Frederick.“We’re going to be having some give-a-ways, some Geneo’s Pizza, some live interviews and then all week we’re going to be posting tourism facts on our social media channels to just kind of educate the public about the impact of travel in Bucanan County,” says Conway. Conway says tourism and travel was drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. “All of our museums had to shut down for a while. People weren’t traveling. They just weren’t going anywhere. Our businesses suffered. Our local businesses, restaurants, hotels, everybody suffered.”

St. Joseph celebrates national tourism week year after COVID ruined tourism