Opinion: Tourism businesses can’t weather this crisis alone, sector urgently needs targeted government aid

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Without question, the tourism and hospitality sector has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost overnight, the industry saw a remarkable and distressing change. Starting with a downturn in visitors during Lunar New Year in January, our industry faced necessary shutdowns to protect public health.

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We are now coping with the loss of our peak season this summer with the cancellation of the cruise season and all large meetings, conventions, and lifestyle and sporting events until a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19 is found. The cumulative effect has left many local operators struggling to survive. Who knows how long this will last?

In Metro Vancouver, the tourism and hospitality sector supports 105,000 jobs and generates $14.4 billion in visitor spending annually, an outsized share comprising almost two-thirds of provincewide tourism economic activity. Our local operators market our incredible destination to the world, showcasing the beauty and diversity of a region immersed in nature with stunning vistas, spectacular events and truly memorable adventures, all served up with the best of West Coast hospitality. Metro is also a critical source market and gateway for visitors to the rest of B.C.

There is no arguing that the provincial government has done an excellent job managing COVID-19 from a health-and-safety perspective. Our industry fully supported the initial travel and gathering restrictions even though the reality of these measures seriously impacted thousands of tourism businesses.

In planning for recovery, government and the industry encouraged British Columbians to be tourists in their own backyard, which would provide a much-needed boost to struggling tourism providers as we travel within the province and spend our vacation dollars closer to home.

But as this pandemic continues and B.C. remains in the current reopening phase, we know local visitors are simply not enough to sustain this industry. Metro’s visitor economy was built on — and thrives on — the mix of visitors we welcome from near-and-far.

As the tourism peak season winds down, our businesses are telling us with urgency that domestic travel isn’t making up for the absence of visitors from Canada, the U.S. and international source markets, and that they need urgent relief to get them through the coming winter.

Without government investment and support, we can expect massive job losses and business closures before the end of the year here. The projected economic losses on tourism in Metro this year due to COVID-19 are substantial and the industry expects to see a loss of $9.8 billion in visitor spending, $5.8 billion in GDP, $2.6 billion in taxes to government and 72,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

In these challenging times, one thing is clear — the visitor economy in Metro needs provincial support to bring it back to life. We have a great deal to contribute to the province, but equally, a great deal that needs protecting — in the immediate term, and for the future. An investment in tourism will give local taxpayers the biggest bang for their buck in terms of jobs and tax revenue. Every employee brought back to work is one less person dependent on government programs like CERB.

The COVID-19 health pandemic is the perfect storm in communities across B.C. Despite recent increases in visits this month to a few regions, here in Metro a staggering number of our local businesses are seeing revenue shortfalls of up to 90 per cent. As we look to the fall and winter season, and zero events, zero conferences and very limited business and domestic travel, there will be no recovery for our tourism sector without direct government investment and support.

The Tourism Industry Association of B.C. has asked the province for a $680-million recovery package. Without financial investment and support this year, many of Metro’s businesses will not make it to 2021. We’re urging action necessary to counter the devastating effects of COVID-19.

A recovery will depend on smart and targeted investments in our sector. We can’t weather this alone.

Ted Lee is the CFO of Tourism Vancouver. Nancy Small is the CEO of Tourism Richmond and Ingrid Jarrett is the CEO of the B.C. Hotel Association. They’re the co-chairs of the Metro Vancouver Tourism and Hospitality Industry Response and Recovery Task Force.

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