Page 19 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

OUTLOOK 2022/THE REGION >>
There Were Glimpses of Progress in 2021, and More Are Expected
By George O’Brien
When asked to project what lies ahead, Rick Sullivan said he believes the region got a taste of what he expects 2022 will be like last summer and early fall — before Delta and Omicron entered the lexicon.
Flashing back, he said the tourism sector was
those in Boston, New York, and other markets
due to the growing popularity, and availability,
of remote work. And the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, which Sullivan serves as president and CEO, was seeing an uptick in inquiries and site searches involving the region,
on healthcare providers, and a host of challenges for small businesses, including, by and large, the end to COVID-generated federal relief measures such as PPP and the employee-retention credit (see related story on page 22).
As for COVID, itself, its unpredictability — and deep impact on the economy and specific busi- ness sectors — were on full display in December, said Tom Senecal, president of Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, citing postponed business confer- ences, canceled holiday parties (including one scheduled by his company), and the ripple effect all this had on businesses that were projecting a far better end to 2021, as just one example.
“COVID is going to be the impactful event of the beginning of 2022 — it might alter the way we continue to do business,” he said. “It comes down to mandates and whether businesses can stay open. Some colleges are closing; think about how it might affect the Amherst and Northamp- ton market if colleges are closing and maybe not reopening depending upon how COVID goes.”
But despite great uncertainty about COVID and other issues, such as inflation and the fact that is no longer transitory in the eyes of the Fed, there is optimism that soon — how soon no one knows — the region may be see more of what it caught a glimpse of in 2021.
“From a retail and from a travel and tourism point of view, the future looks bright, and we had that taste of it.”
with much of the interest coming from transportation and distribution com- panies, but also some manufacturers as well.
“We didn’t quite get to where we thought we’d be when we looked into our crystal balls at the start of 2021, but I thought we caught a glimpse of where we will be in the summer and early fall,” he said. “From a retail and from a travel and tourism point of view, the future looks bright, and we had that taste of it.”
RICK SULLIVAN
rebounding on many levels, with the Big E on its way to a very solid year, many other attractions across the region open again, and most all restau- rants and other types of venues taking full advan- tage of large amounts of pent-up demand.
Meanwhile, the housing market was (and still is) booming, in part because there was consid- erable interest in moving to this region among
That ‘taste,’ as Sullivan called it, could be a preview of 2022, and there is con- siderable optimism that it will be. But there are
many question marks regarding what’s on the horizon, and most all of them are COVID-related in some way, shape, or form.
That includes a workforce crisis that has impacted every sector of the economy and spawned the term ‘Great Resignation,’ as well as supply-chain issues, enormous stress and strain
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