Thank you for the opportunity. I'm just going to launch into this.
We've been analyzing the impacts of COVID-19 and, like my predecessors, we're also seeing significant devastation of our industry as it stands today. Indigenous tourism in 2019 had roughly 1,900 businesses spread through every province and territory. We provided employment for roughly 40,000 people, some of whom were non-indigenous people working in our businesses, and they came in a variety of shapes and sizes.
What we're seeing right now I would like to categorize into three key themes.
First, the current economic stimulus is to flow through the traditional networks of Export Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada, organizations like the regional development agencies and major banks. However, there continue to remain challenges to support for our indigenous tourism small businesses through any of these networks, and we believe that right now, while the best of intentions have been made and we think the ideas are correct, the delivery model needs to be adjusted to ensure that indigenous tourism businesses, which are some of the most vulnerable and at risk within the tourism sector, are somehow protected so that we can rebuild after COVID-19.
There are six major themes we're seeing across Canada with our indigenous business network, and I want to stress that it's important that the committee appreciate that there's been a lot of mix-up between what's community and what's industry. We have a robust industry that's been evolving. Canada has become one of the world leaders in indigenous tourism, and has done so especially over the last five years. Indigenous tourism has grown by almost half a billion dollars in direct sales and GDP during that time.
The first of the six themes that we're seeing right now is that there's a detrimental impact on indigenous tourism operators. We've literally gone from a very promising 2020 season to almost zero. We know that going into April, May, June, July, August, September, October—which is the height of the business season for most of our tourism businesses—we have gone from many bookings to complete zero, so the 1,900 businesses are seeing significant challenges. A lot are small operators doing outdoor adventure and other sorts of cultural experiences. That's going to mean absolute devastation to those small businesses.
The second theme we're seeing across the country is that the loan programming structures are not effective. Most of our indigenous businesses do not access capital through traditional banks. Some of the larger members of our industry will do that, and some of the hotels and casinos and so forth might have more access, but a lot of our small mom-and-pop businesses don't work with major banks, EDC or BDC. They work with the aboriginal financial institutions, and there's been no commitment publicly of stimulus funding into that network yet.
The third theme that we're hearing from across our sector is that there is a lot of confusion with the information that's out there. As we see every day, the programs are being adjusted on the fly, which I think everyone appreciates, but it becomes very confusing for our indigenous tourism businesses, and they don't identify those networks, as I said in speaking about the second theme.
The fourth key theme is that indigenous tourism is still in development. While we have 1,900 businesses, it's fair to say that 800 to 1,000 of them have been developed over the last five to seven years, and many of them are not showing profit-and-loss statements in a way that would get traditional bank financing. No matter what the accommodations are in the economic measures that have been provided through the various programs, ultimately you have to be a viable business, and that's a major concern. Most of our businesses are still in development. They are bringing in more and more paying customers, but they're still very vulnerable to market conditions, and we feel this will completely bankrupt at least 500 to 600 businesses if nothing is done in a very short period.
The fifth theme is that there are challenges with eligibility and the potential for accessing these funds. It just kind of speaks to that same theme. We're seeing significant efforts already by businesses trying to be in contact with Export Development Canada, with the Business Development Bank of Canada and with banks, and they have already been declined. Despite the fact that there have been $40,000 emergency investments, these things certainly are not being translated into approvals, because the system is overloaded with many other sectors, and the banks are typically looking to support the businesses that they can see very clearly are economically viable, when, as I said previously, many of our businesses are still in development.
The sixth theme I would like to touch on is that we've built indigenous tourism with a lot of trust among our indigenous networks. We have a national organization that I represent. Many provincial and territorial partners have been established in every province and territory. One of the reasons was to make sure we had a coordinated effort to build indigenous tourism in this country, and I think it's really important that the solutions that are moving forward build on these existing indigenous networks with an indigenous solution.
Finally, what we are saying as an industry is that we are first of all pushing to invest at least $25,000 in 640 businesses in the short term, in what we're calling a stimulus development grant. We've launched an intake of that. We've already had several million dollars in applications. We have some existing program resources that we are investing to help these businesses with short-term cash needs. This has certainly been a huge initial perceived benefit or relief to our sector. There's been no stimulus identified to support this directly yet.
Second, we're recommending that a stimulus resource like BCAP, an indigenous BCAP of $557 million, be created, and that it flow through essentially the indigenous network. We see three conditions critical to this.
One is for indigenous tourism businesses to be incentivized with a forgiveness amount if the loans are repaid over the proper amortization. We need to defer initial payments until September 1, 2021, because we know 2020 will be a loss leader. It's especially difficult for our businesses, so we need to help them rebuild and keep their businesses moving forward so we can recover appropriately after COVID-19.
As well, if there are stimulus resources redirected through the aboriginal financial institutions network, we must make sure that they're provided at a competitive and equitable commercial rate. There are roughly 60 aboriginal financial institutions in the National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association, and they often give high-interest loans because they're high-risk. Although our businesses may be high-risk, as many tourism businesses may be for some time to come after COVID-19, we need to make sure that those rates are competitive to save our businesses.
Third, because of the significant apprehension by indigenous businesses about securing loans through the major banks, EDC or BDC, given the lack of equitable access over the past years, we must stress our strong belief that we have to move forward with the aboriginal financial institutions as the longer-term recovery efforts for indigenous tourism in this country.
I just want to finish with—