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As wildfires rage across Southern California, displacing families and devastating entire communities, another crisis is quietly unfolding: the collapse of the homeowner’s insurance market. Insurers, overwhelmed by years of catastrophic losses, are pulling out of high-risk areas or dramatically raising premiums, leaving middle-class homeowners with few options. The ripple effects are already reshaping California communities, pushing working families out and concentrating ownership in the hands of the wealthy few who can afford to self-insure.
Here on Cape Cod, the situation is not so different. While wildfires may not be our threat, rising seas, intensified storms, and coastal flooding are making our properties increasingly vulnerable. The insurance industry here is responding similarly to California, with premiums skyrocketing or coverage disappearing altogether. For the working-class families and small business owners who have defined the Cape for generations, this trend is alarming.
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Business Events Calendar
Make sure you check our business events calendar to see all the local networking and business events coming up this month.
More Info →
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Business Blog
Check out our Business Blog page that includes industry insights, member news, and the latest business trends.
More Info →
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Policy News Updates
Subscribe to Policy News for semi-annual updates on our policy and advocacy work, including the Cape Cod Bridges replacement, economic/business climate, housing, childcare, and more.
More Info →
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We hosted the 15th annual Cocktails + Connections on Thursday, January 23rd, at the Sea Crest Beach Resort. This eagerly awaited event, originally founded by Olive Chase, owner of The Casual Gourmet, continues to unite the Cape Cod wedding community for an evening of connection, fun, and celebration of the industry’s significant impact on our region each year. Organized by the Cape Cod Chamber Wedding Committee (pictured above), this year’s theme, Seaside Saloon, brought together over 20 vendors to create our most extraordinary event yet! Photos provided by the amazing Alex Gordias Photography. | |
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In honor of last week’s National #PlanForVacationDay, we put together the ultimate Cape Cod Bucket List to help provide travel inspiration to visitors. Aimed at everyone from beach lovers and foodies to adventure seekers and history buffs, this handy guide will help travelers make the most of their next getaway to our beautiful seaside destination.
Other recent Travel Guide blogs include:
“Best Places for Brunch on Cape Cod”: A round-up of local favorites
“Plan Your Perfect Getaway with Our Trip Builder”: A fun tutorial on our interactive online Trip Builder Tool
Please share this engaging Cape Cod content on your social media channels whenever possible to help showcase the unique experiences that await on Cape Cod!
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Our high-performing website finished the 2024 calendar year with 3.1 million unique visits and 79k referrals to lodging properties via our online booking feature. The website remains #1 in Google searches for Cape Cod, and the top pages for 2024 were Places to Stay, Getting Here, Luxury Resorts, Food & Drink, Events, and Things to Do. The blog section of our website had over 198k views, with the most read articles including “Rainy Day Fun on Cape Cod”, “8 Spots to Catch a Dramatic Sunset”, "19 Things You Can Only Do on Cape Cod”, "Fall Fest Time”, “Best Family Beaches”, and an insider’s guide to Cape Cod Hydrangea Fest. We continue to aggressively drive traffic to the website with seasonal ad campaigns, SEO marketing, PPC programs, targeted digital and social media ads, and regular blog posts. | |
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We continue to work with Bill DeSousa-Mauk of Hyannis-based DeMa PR to promote Cape Cod as a premier, year-round destination. Below are key highlights of DeMa PR’s efforts in domestic and international media markets from July 1 to December 31, 2024:
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Collaborated with 37 domestic and international travel writers, including National Geographic Traveller, Town & Country, The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, Luxury Travel Magazine, USA Today, Newsweek, and Condé Nast Traveler.
- Responded to 136 media requests for access to the Chamber’s image library or custom-curated image collections.
- Assisted with permitting and location scouting for a documentary on the Cape Cod Baseball League, which aired on the SEC Network in August 2024.
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Provided digital and video assets for the Today Show segment on Cape Cod, broadcast live on NBC in August 2024.
- Planned, organized, and executed a Brazilian media familiarization tour (FAM) for BrandUSA in October 2024.
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The Center for Creative Learning, our training partner, shares research that the most successful leaders with the longest careers have the key leadership trait of learning agility.
If you’re a skilled and agile learner, you outperform your peers. You’re willing to learn from experience and you’re able to apply that learning to perform successfully in new and challenging situations. You learn new information quickly and figure out how to interact effectively with others. You come up with resourceful solutions when others struggle to succeed. If you have learning agility, you understand that what’s needed to succeed at one level or in one setting doesn’t necessarily translate to the next.
Join us on March 14 for the workshop Learning Agility, facilitated by Lauren Barker, Vice President of Strategy and Government Relations. Members receive one complimentary pass annually. View our Leadership Series Training Calendar HERE.
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On Friday, January 24th, Karribean Lounge Express marked their opening day, sharing the memorable moment with the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, their customers and staff. It was a day filled with joy and anticipation, as owner Allanah Bodah expressed her eagerness to resume serving her community. The Karribean Lounge Express is a Take Out Only location offering Caribbean and American cuisine. Their hours are Mondays through Saturdays, from 7 AM to 9 PM. Located in the Willow Tree Market, 15 Charles Street, Hyannis. | |
On Wednesday, January 29th, Amy Minkoff Coaching held a transformative workshop for Chamber members titled "The Power of Vision: 3 Keys to make 2025 your best year." This workshop provided participants with valuable tools to help them define and achieve their own concepts of success. Attendees left feeling energized, engaging in straightforward exercises that encouraged them to visualize themselves living their ideal success story. Amy Minkoff, a Certified Professional Coach, is dedicated to helping individuals create and build lives that resonate with their personal definitions of success. | |
On Friday, we saw a large crowd for our January Good Morning Networking Event at Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod in Hyannis. Chamber members and staff were excited to see the changes made to the resort and enjoyed all the details that went into its new identity. We were pleased to welcome our interns to their first Chamber networking event. Thank you again to the Margaritaville staff for all of their efforts. | |
Thank you for joining us at WaterWORKS 2025 on January 14 at Cape Cod Community College. If you would like to be notified about future WaterWORKS and Cape Cod Blue Economy Foundation events, please sign up for our email list by clicking here. Check out our highlight video by BigTree. | |
SAVE THE DATE for our Big Blue Conference on Tuesday, April 29 and Wednesday, April 30, at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich. More details coming soon. | |
About half of small business owners and decision-makers say they are spending too much time and money navigating regulatory requirements and that it’s impacting their growth, according to new findings in the Q4 MetLife and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index. Additionally, 51% say that licensing, certification, and permit requirements make it harder to grow their business. Almost as many (47%) say that their business spends too much time fulfilling regulatory compliance requirements. | |
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Q4 2024 SBI: 69.1
The MetLife and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index score for Q4 is 69.1. The Q3 2024 Index score was 71.2.
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State of American Business 2025:
During the annual State of American Business program, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark called on policymakers to prioritize growth and opportunity for all Americans in communities across the country.
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Our Administrative Offices are located at 5 Patti Page Way in Centerville, off of Shootflying Hill Road. Please refer to the department contact information below for direct inquiries. | | | | |
