Tourism industry off to slow recovery in Step 3 of Ontario's reopening plan
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."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.