B. C. whalewatching sees dream season slip away

In anticipation of another record year for tourism in B. C., one of the province’s whale- watching tour operators took possession of a new boat in March.

The delivery of the boat to Prince of Whales Whale & Marine Wildlife Adventures coincided with the implementation of unprecedented measures in B.C. to halt the spread of coronavirus.

The effect of those measures brought a halt to international travel and tourist visits here.

“By all indications we were ready for the most historically successful season we could have ever had,” said Prince of Whales’ controller, Ian Macphee. “And then it just disappeared over night. We went from booking people to people demanding their money back.”

The whale watching season normally starts in May and the sector is hoping to restart on July 1 when the federal government is set to lift a ban on the operation of vessels with a capacity of more than 12 people. The goahead also needs clearance from the province.

With the disappearance of international visitors, which account for the bulk of their passengers, MacPhee says they hope to entice local people to come out.

Because they have boats with 200 seats and will only be using 50 seats, there will be a lot of distancing space for people, he said.

With 14 boats and a normal staff complement of about 75, Prince of Whales operates tours from Granville Island in Vancouver, from Victoria and from Telegraph Cove on the north end of Vancouver Island.

Initially they believed they might be able to capture 25 per cent of their regular business, but that estimate has been scaled back to 10 to 15 per cent, said Macphee.

The tourism sector was among the first and hardest hit sectors from the global pandemic. It is also likely to be the last to recover, says Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C.

A recent report by the B.C. Regional Tourism Secretariat — based on a May 25 to June 5 survey — showed only five per cent of firms are operating with business as usual.

While businesses are rehiring workers, it’s still a small fraction of those laid off or not hired due to COVID-19, showed the survey of 713 firms.

More than three quarters of the firms said they would need to make more than 50 per cent of their typical sales to make it worthwhile to stay open through the summer.

Tourism had been growing in British Columbia, generating more than $ 20 billion in revenues in 2018, the latest figures available. Revenues were expected to top $21 billion in another record year in 2020.

Judas said even when the tourism sector gets going at some point this summer, revenues will likely only be one third of what would have been expected.