Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Committee members and fellow panellists, I did have a PowerPoint presentation, but I'll go by the seat of my pants.
I work for a small not-for-profit that was set up in 1993 by Parks Canada, and which later expanded its mandate to include communities. I'm in a very fortunate region, because we have a lot of tourism and some fisheries. Pre-pandemic, we had about 250,000 visits in the region, and generated a total revenue of $312.5 million. The average spending by a visitor was approximately $1,250 a day, and we employ about 1,200-plus in that industry.
Our region is made up of seven enclave communities. We refer to Gros Morne National Park as our “other fish plant”. The communities have a population of around 3,000. They are engaged in visitor experiences, because that's how we build capacity, by using what's around us.
Current needs in the tourism marketplace have shifted quickly, because of the pandemic, and we've become ever reliant on technology and connectivity.
I'd like to thank the federal government for its investment over the last year or so in connecting some of these small communities to allow us to compete. With these investments in technology, our businesses need this now for sure. We projected expansion into these markets in five to eight years, but because of the pandemic, we've had to fast forward and catch up quickly, so technology's been a big part of our growth and reach-out since the pandemic.
The rapid response by the federal government was very much appreciated from an employee, employer and community point of view. The current structure of the wage subsidy will not work for industry, nor our region, to survive. If we don't have the option to explore and adapt to the new norm we won't have a chance to grow.
The Canada emergency wage subsidy must continue until the fall of 2022 to make the rebuild of this sector feasible. The investment feeds directly into jobs, the economy, and allows our industry to continue its pivot to become one of the world's best destinations for sustainable tourism. We see this as a way of growing our community.
We've lost our accessibility. Our market is very much a domestic market, with 70% of our visitors coming from Canada, mainly Ontario and Quebec. Our international market is about 30%, and that's very much dependent on the U.S. and U.K. The accommodations, experiences and restaurants just before the pandemic were getting their feet under themselves, and could have responded to the capacity at the peak of the season.
Roughly 70% of our operators are older. With the final life cycles of their businesses, they are looking to sell in the next few years. Succession planning for them is a big challenge because of the lack of financial options for younger entrepreneurs who would like to enter the industry. They are challenged by that. For those businesses that were sold in 2020 and bought, they're facing new challenges of no previous employees and no previous revenue. That puts up a barrier for their accessing some of the programs the federal government is offering to assist them in their recovery.
I can't stress enough how important access is to us in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Since the pandemic, we've lost 19 flights in Atlantic Canada, and are really challenged while we rebuild some of that. Our operators were 50% open last year. Some of them, about 50%, were probably at 15% of revenue; the others, less than 8%. We dropped about 95% of our visitation and revenue last season, and we don't anticipate much growth in 2021.
With the complications of the vaccination rollout and its being delayed, we can't see.... Even the Canadian Tourism Commission alluded to the fact we'll probably be into September before we see movement in the Canadian market. There are many challenges for small business in our region, but we have a lot of thank yous for the federal government for its assistance in getting us this far.
We really see that the opportunity is in the wage subsidies and in bringing employees back on, showing them how to do it right, and responding to the new expectations of visitors to feel safe. We see that as a better option than extending unemployment and sort of stay-at-home pay.
Thank you so much for your time. I'm sorry that the PowerPoint didn't work, but hopefully I set the stage for where we're at in Gros Morne small business.