A BLEAK WEEK: Covid crisis curtails annual celebration of tourism

There won’t be a “mascot invasion” of tourism staff at Winnipeg airport this year or networking sessions for tourism professionals in Yellowknife; indeed, Tourism Week, Canada’s annual celebration of the tourism industry – which takes place this week – will look “very different” than most years, says the Tourism Industry Association Canada (TIAC).

Instead of celebrating the “workers and captivating attractions that welcome visitors from home and abroad,” the industry must instead face the grim reality that it has shed 881,700 jobs (43% of its total) in recent weeks due to repercussions from the global coronavirus crisis.

“Canada’s tourism industry sector was first hit and hardest hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic and will be one of the last sectors to recover,” says TIAC, which says that it is continuing to advocate for government support to “help get us through the crisis,” and is launching a national grassroots campaign called “Tourism Matters” to deliver the message to “decision makers” in Ottawa.

TIAC is calling for extended support for the tourism industry through an extended wage subsidy program, additional access to liquidity and a tourism specific recovery package to help incentivize both domestic and international travellers.

TIAC points out that one out of every 11 jobs in Canada is related to tourism and the industry accounts for two percent of GDP and $102 billion in economic activity.

“This is a brutal time for the industry,” TIAC president and CEO Charlotte Bell said during a recent industry webinar attended by Travel Industry Today, adding that, despite government wages subsidy, the majority of the tourism industry has laid off between 50 and 100 percent of staff, with many companies reporting that they will run out of cash in less than three months.

This circumstance certainly doesn’t help with the prospects of recovery, with Bell stating, “countries around the world are way ahead of Canada on this front.”

To that end, TIAC says its Tourism Week focus will be on the Tourism Matters campaign, for which it has issued a virtual toolkit that includes information, along with shareable social media content and zoom images. It can be downloaded at www.TourismMatters.ca

Also planned are three virtual town hall meetings this week in Manitoba (May 26), Ontario (May 27) and Alberta (May 28); registrations can be made through the web site.

Celebrating in Winnipeg in 2019.

Another toolkit designed to help the industry “get up and running as quickly as possible and build resiliency for the medium to long-term” is being developed by Tourism HR Canada.

“Canada’s tourism industry will not return to 2019 levels in the near future. As the national workforce development organization working for the tourism sector, our goal is to provide the knowledge and tools to help tourism employers and employees rebound from the crisis and build a resilient workforce,” says organization president and CEO Philip Mondor.

Free for users, the practical web-based program will include presentations, downloadable worksheets and tools to help tourism operators in their recovery and reopening efforts. It will be updated regularly with new content focused on topics like human resources, crisis communications, marketing, budgeting and finance and strategic planning – all focused on business recovery and resiliency.

Available in English and French, the COVID-19 Workforce Recovery Toolkit will be released in June but members of the tourism industry can now sign up at tourismrecovery.ca and relancetourisme.ca to receive access and updates as Modules are launched in the coming weeks.