'Nobody saw this coming': Hospitality industry struggles with holiday cancellations amid Omicron spike

After living through nearly two years of the pandemic, the hospitality industry is being hit hard once again as the Omicron variant has forced many to stay home and avoid travel during the holidays.

Cheryl Finn, the manager of Tourism London said, “We knew the winter would be bad. But we never saw Omicron coming. Nobody saw this coming.”

She is one of many who was hoping to see businesses get back on track this holiday season. But with the unexpected arrival of the Omicron variant, Finn says the tourism industry is struggling through yet another year of setbacks.

“Businesses, workers that were relying on the holiday season to basically carry them through January, February, March, have been dealing with a lot of cancellations,” said Finn. “Just when we start to build a little bit of traction and we think we’re out of the darkest times -- we’re right back in it.”

When restrictions were announced earlier this month in Ontario it was only a matter of time until people had to cancel their reservations.

“We definitely have had quite the setback,” said Ken Price, the guest services manager of Best Western Plus Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre.

Price says restrictions didn’t come as a surprise, however, “It definitely has an effect on who is comfortable travelling, so we saw a few people who decided they were no longer comfortable staying with us.”

It’s a similar story at the Hilton Doubletree located downtown.

The hotel’s general manager told CTV News London on the phone that celebrations taking place in their hotel had to be cancelled as restrictions limit the number of people allowed to gather indoors.

Not to mention the cancellation of several Christmas and New Year’s Eve events in the area.

To help businesses through another round of COVID-19 restrictions the Ontario government is introducing the Ontario Business Costs Rebate Program for eligible businesses. (The list of eligible businesses will not be made available until January.)

The program will allow eligible businesses to receive payments equaling about 50 per cent of property tax and energy costs they incur while capacity restrictions are in place.

Concerns about staffing and the future of the industry are also top of mind for the tourism industry during this wave.

If restrictions are prolonged, more places will have to turn to the province for financial support.

“As a municipal government we’ve always stood ready to support our local businesses by advocating on their behalf to those other levels of government, to ensure they are aware of the levels of support needed on the ground,” said Josh Morgan, the deputy mayor of London.

Even though the hospitality industry is one that’s not expected to bounce back any time soon, Finn says there will be some financial supports for certain businesses in the new year.

- With files from CTV News Toronto's Katherine DeClerq