Thank you.
I'd like to thank you for inviting Northwest Territories Tourism to be part of this important conversation. I also want to express our gratitude for the critical support given by the federal government to help the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories survive what is an unprecedented health and economic storm.
In 2019, before the pandemic, the NWT welcomed 120,000 visitors. These visitors spent over $210 million directly in the tourism industry. Since March 2020, the Northwest Territories border has been closed to leisure travel. The most recent research, conducted in October 2020, showed that 70% of tourism respondents lost annual revenue of between 76% and 100%. This past year has been devastating to all tourism activities in the Northwest Territories. It has meant that the tourism operators who chose to remain open have had to repurpose their activities in creative ways as they attempt to generate some staycation revenue to keep their lights on. Tourism operators have been resilient. They have changed their business models, offering summer day camps for children and other ventures well outside of their normal business.
While we are proud of the ingenuity of our tourism operators, we must state that the just over 15,000 households in the NWT will never make up for the revenue generated by our 120,000-plus visitors we normally see in a year. As you can imagine, tourism is extremely important to the Northwest Territories. Many tourism businesses have remained closed because it is not viable for them to open their businesses for the staycation market, while some have closed permanently. In the survey conducted in October 2020, only 21% of tourism businesses [Technical difficulty—Editor] 42% of businesses were temporarily or permanently closed.
The first thing I would ask of this committee is for the federal government to continue the current economic supports that are in place for the tourism industry for as long as it takes for travel to fully resume. Eventually, the NWT borders will reopen to leisure travel. When this happens, tax incentives for the 2021-22 fiscal year to support local travel within Canada would be extremely helpful, as we would then be able to try to attract travellers from Canada, where normally the Northwest Territories relies heavily on international travel visitation, particularly in the winter months.
Support for national airlines and local airlines as critical infrastructure to support travel will be important when travel resumes. Air Canada did cancel flights to Yellowknife earlier this year. Without the support for airlines, visitors won’t be able to visit us—not if they can’t get to the Northwest Territories.
I would like to share that the goalposts for the easing of pandemic restrictions are continually changing. Messages are confusing. This confusion causes a great deal of frustration in our industry. While we realize that the virus is changing and that this is the first-ever pandemic in living memory, we would like to ask the federal government to take the lead on devising a scenario-based plan for the reopening of travel. The plan needs to be science-based and data-driven.
There are some variables that we think could be included in a scenario-based plan. Set a benchmark for the percentage of the population that needs to be vaccinated for travel to safely resume. Hearing different numbers in the media daily, and hearing uncertainty about the usefulness of vaccines in allowing travel resumption, is frustrating and disheartening. Outline the role that rapid testing and contact tracing can play in safe reopening. Set consistent processes and standards. Set the safety measures that need to be in place to support travel, from border crossings to the tourism business level.
The plan must include some lead time for tourism industry businesses to prepare for reopening, which will likely take some months, and include such things as hiring staff and re-establishing partnerships with airlines, hotels and other partners. If the federal government were to set a national standard, then individual provinces and territories could implement or revise these as appropriate. It would be very helpful, though, for the federal government to take the lead.
I think it is important to note to the committee that COVID-19 has created a false economy. When the pandemic subsides, many jobs related to the pandemic will be lost. The jobs currently held by contact tracers and border security officers, isolation centres hosted by hotels, and other related jobs will disappear as the pandemic abates. In the NWT alone we have a COVID secretariat that employs 187 people. The need to get the tourism sector up and running before or in tandem with the disappearance of these jobs is critical. This is another reason to have adequate lead time and a reopening plan.
The federal government supports have been critical to our industry. Without these supports, we would have no industry left when the pandemic eases and tourism resumes. All funding sources have been accessed by our industry. By far the most uptake has been in the northern business relief fund and the regional relief and recovery fund. The Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency response benefit have also been very important. Tourism operators have also taken advantage of loan programs and the work-sharing program.
The most important thing I can say to you today is this: Please extend these programs for as long as the pandemic impacts travel, particularly leisure travel.
Thank you for your time today.