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Tourism industry off to slow recovery in Step 3 of Ontario's reopening plan

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Barrie, Ont. -

Now that the province is nearly three weeks into the final phase of its reopening plan, most of the tourism sector is getting back to business, but the Ontario Tourism Association president and CEO, Chris Bloore, says the industry is not out of the woods just yet.

"Step 3 has definitely been a step forward for our industry," says Chris Bloore.

Under the latest provincial guidelines, amusement parks, hotels, and indoor dining reopened, with capacity limit increases for both indoors and outdoors.

But for some, the more lenient measures are too little too late.

With the provincial lockdowns and the stay-at-home orders over the last 18 months, many businesses have had to shutter their doors, with the hardest hit being in the food and accommodations sectors.

Still, Bloore credits the economic supports received through negotiations from both the provincial and federal governments for helping to keep some businesses afloat.

"We've managed to keep it under 10 per cent right now, which is still far too many, but without those government supports, it could have been 20, 30, 40 per cent of our members," he says.

Bloore says that while some businesses are welcoming back customers, it's too early to talk about recovery.

The industry expects the recovery phase to last over the next two to three years.

Without clients and cross-border travellers, many of the businesses in the sector have taken on large amounts of debt while laying off staff.

Bloore encourages interprovincial travel over international trips to help support businesses here at home.

"We know that if we can redirect two-thirds of the money that leaves these shores on international travel back into our province, we can bring back 100,000 jobs, and we can look to undo some of the damage over the last 18 months," he says.

Vaccine passports are a hot-button topic that the president and CEO says is a practice all of the industry "is instinctively" against because it could create barriers and deter people from being able to enjoy the experience the industry offers.

But at the same time, he believes having to show proof of vaccinations will be "inevitable at some stage" and will be an integral part of the industry either provincially or federally.

"It's a rock and a hard place for our economy," says Bloore.

"The important thing is that we don't go back to what we had in the last 18 months and a complete shutdown of our economy because the tourism and hospitality industry cannot survive another permanent lockdown."

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