From Staff Reports 

The Biltmore Estate, the Asheville area's largest tourist attraction, is permanently eliminating about 390 jobs — nearly 15 percent of its workforce — because of the impacts on business resulting from the lingering COVID-19 pandemic, Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported July 14.

"Because the impact of COVID-19 has been longer than anticipated ... approximately 15 percent of our positions were eliminated through a combination of permanent layoff and early retirement,” according to LeeAnn Donnelly, senior public relations manager of Biltmore. "Of those eliminated positions, the majority are part-time roles."

In April, more than 2,000 of Biltmore's 2,500 employees were temporarily furloughed in the wake of the estate's closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The estate, which closed (for the first time since World War II) starting March 26, reopened on a limited basis on May 9

Donnelly said a majority of those workers have already returned to their jobs. Others will be recalled over the coming months.

"Biltmore is providing a comprehensive severance package to impacted employees," Donnelly said, adding that, for privacy reasons, she is unable to provide any details about what departments or positions were permanently cut.

Meanwhile, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on July 14 that, “before the pandemic struck, Biltmore expected a banner year.”

The ACT quoted estate spokeswoman Kathleen Mosher as saying, “For the first nine months of fiscal year ‘20 (July-March) we were on track to have another record year, primarily due to the success of our Downton Abbey exhibition.” Her referencewas to costumes and other items from the hit television show. “Visitation then dropped 68 percent in the last four months, March-June.  We had no visitors from March 27-May 8, when we were closed.”

For fiscal 2020, which ran from July 2019 to June 2020, “the estate had 1.2 million guests, down 27 percent from the 2019 fiscal year,” the ACT reported. 

“Besides the extravagant house, the estate is home to two hotels, multiple restaurants and shops, and a winery. Some restaurants remain closed while others are open at reduced capacity,” the ACT added. “General attendance is also down, in part because of state and federal recommendations on capacity levels.”

The ACT quoted Mosher as saying, “We have all the safety measures in place, and we’re following CDC guidelines and state and local guidelines, and by their nature they’re designed to limit capacity and allow for social distancing.”