Tourism in Ontario not expected to recover until 2025: Report

A report released jointly by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and the provincial Chamber of Commerce warns of a sluggish return for the tourism industry over the next two years.

“There's around 90 recommendations that we've put forward to the provincial and federal governments about how we can get tourism flowing again and Ontario,” said Chris Bloore, the president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario.

The report indicates the industry is only producing around 64 per cent of the revenues it did pre-pandemic, and Bloore said one of the obstacles to recover is a labour shortage.

“We're working with governments to do this. We're going into the high schools working with Indigenous Ontarians, we're working with disabled Ontarians to try and open up people's eyes to a potential career or a short-term job within our industry,” he said. “Whatever they want, we have the vacancies for them, for them to meet their needs.”

It’s part of a modernization of the industry that according to Bloore is essential to the future survival.

In Sarnia, Ont., one in eight jobs are related to tourism with hundreds of jobs vacant at the moment.

But, a major factor for a border town is drawing visitors from the United States, and those visitor numbers are down, and a campaign to remove confusion is underway.

“I think the confusion of Arrive CAN app, you know what was needed and then you put on the passport so on top and just it's not very clear. Communication to American travellers on if they still need to be vaccinated, if they don't need to be vaccinated, and what documents they need to bring to come across,” explained Mark Perrin, executive director of Tourism Sarnia-Lambton.

Staging larger events is part of a strategy to drive people to the area from both sides of the border, like this weekend’s Holiday Dreams Cirque show.

“It’s the first event to be at the arena in the last 10 years really. So for a non-Sting game, a bit of a big deal here for Sarnia,” he said.

Similarly, in London hosting events like the Vanier Cup last month, and the upcoming Brier in March keep tourism dollars flowing into the city.

“The impact that these types of events have on our industry is huge, and that's really how we focus, and we got to try to do as many as we possibly can right now,” said Zanth Jarvis, director of Sport Tourism.

This is especially important for an event like the Brier, which brings fans from across the country for 10 days and is a significant boost to the economy.

“[It] boosts for our local hotel industry, as well as restaurants and all the other industries that provide services to these types of events and, based on past events, we're looking at a 10 plus million dollar economic impact,” explained Jarvis.

Some of the recommendations in the report, set to be released Tuesday, is more government programs like the staycation tax credit or an increase to the federal COVID-19 loan forgiveness amounts and an interest-free repayment period.