Provinces, feds to chat about aid in face of crisis
Tourism ministers from every province were to meet with federal Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly via teleconference on Thursday evening to discuss possible federal support for the country’s $102-billion tourism industry in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Joly will be the third federal minister to meet with every provincial counterpart to discuss impacts and potential mitigation strategies, following meetings held by health and public safety ministers.
“That really shows the importance of tourism,” Joly’s press secretary Alexander Cohen said. “We know it’s going to be one of the industries most affected by this.”
The ministers will discuss what kind of support the industry and its employees need.
It’s too early to say what that might look like, as Canada has thus far focused its response on health care.
While the top advice is to follow public health guidance, Joly has advocated for domestic travel and road trips during the outbreak.
Tourism directly employs one million Canadians, with 1.8 million jobs dependent on the tourism industry.
British Columbia is expected to be hardest hit by the coronavirus due to its reliance on tourism from Asia, Cohen said.
Visitors from China generate about $2 billion annually, but that is expected to drop by $550 million by June given passenger numbers have already dropped due to suspended flights and travel restrictions in China, Joly told reporters in Montreal last week.
Other provinces including P.E.I. are worried about vacation rentals, but are more optimistic since they rely more on domestic visitors.
The disruption to tourism comes after a record-breaking 2019 that saw 22.1 million inbound visitors, according to Statistics Canada. That marked the sixth year of consecutive growth in international travellers and the third record-breaking year in a row.
Earlier this month, the Association of Canadian Travel Agents reported a slowdown in future bookings for cruises, particularly to Asia.
But agents are mostly dealing with customers who have already booked, many who have questions about changing or cancelling their plans as spring break approaches.
ACTA president Wendy Paradis said the association is pleased that travel suppliers including airlines, hotels, cruise and tour operators are introducing more flexible terms and conditions daily.
Still, agents grappling to stay on top of a fluid situation keep getting surprised by new developments, whether it’s the Public Health Agency of Canada recommending people avoid cruises or the Trump administration banning travel from Europe.
ACTA is imploring the government to carefully consider the impacts of its decisions, Paradis said.
“Travel and tourism has a significant impact on Canadians … it touches on so many types of businesses,” she said.
“Our hope is that we are really creating policies that really are thought through and beneficial for all, and from a health safety and security perspective.”