Tourism starts to creep back to Grand Canyon North Rim

Jacob Lake Inn near the North Rim has seen 90% of reservations canceled after the Dragon Bravo Fire. Uncertainty about next year & the government shutdown makes taking out a disaster recovery loan too “scary.” FOX 10’s Nicole Krasean reports.

COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. – Businesses in northern Arizona are still trying to rebound from the Dragon Bravo Fire, which burned more than 145,000 acres near the Grand Canyon’s North Rim earlier this year.

What we know:

The Jacob Lake Inn, a popular spot just above the rim, has faced a sharp drop in visitors this fall. The lodge was evacuated in July, and the financial impact has been severe.

“I’d say we’re at 80–90% of cancellations,” said Melinda Rich Marshall, hiring manager at the Jacob Lake Inn. “Some had reservations that they kept but weren’t sure, others had canceled and then reestablished those again … that back and forth has been a little tricky.”

The fire reached 100% containment in September, and parts of the North Rim reopened to the public on Oct. 1. Staff is grateful for visitors, including hunters, who have returned.

Dig deeper:

The Inn decided against applying for a Small Business Administration disaster loan due to significant unknowns regarding the future. Marshall noted the biggest factor is uncertainty about next year’s tourist season.

“The challenge is, we don’t know what next year looks like,” she said. “We have no idea if it’s going to be busy, we don’t know if they’re going to open on time, we don’t know when the Rim-to-Rim trail will open back up again, I mean all of those unknowns make it really scary for us to take a substantial loan out.”

Marshall added that the government shutdown has complicated planning, canceling a key meeting for recovery operations. She recently traveled to the reopened North Rim and offered a description of the landscape’s recovery.

“There are some parts that are what they call that moonscape, and so that’s hard to see, but then you get into other parts, and it looks kinda like not much has happened, maybe a little bit of black on the trunks and things like that, it’s already coming up green in some places,” Marshall said.

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