Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair and members of the committee, I would like to thank you for inviting me to appear before you today.
My name is Beth Potter. I am the president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. I want to thank you for allowing me to appear before you today and for the opportunity to share with you just how important Bill C-2 is to businesses and employers in Canada's tourism industry.
TIAC is the national voice for tourism in Canada. We aim to improve its global competitiveness through leadership and advocacy. We represent a broad suite of tourism sectors, and our advocacy work at the national level involves promoting and supporting policies, programs and initiatives that will benefit the sector's growth and development.
Many of you will have heard me say this before, and I will say it until it is no longer true: When the pandemic struck, the tourism industry was the first hit and the hardest hit, and it will be the last to recover. TIAC's top priority is to work to recover what has been lost over the last 20 months because of COVID.
Before the pandemic, in 2019 total tourism spending in Canada hit an all-time high of $105 billion, and it had been growing for years. Fast-forward one year: Total tourism spending dropped by half, down to just over $53 billion in 2020. Fifty per cent of total tourism spending in Canada disappeared in just one year. Domestic spending dropped by 40%, and international spending got decimated by 87%. Total tourism GDP dropped by 50%, and as a result, our industry's contribution to Canada's total GDP dropped from 2% to 1%.
Employment in our industry also saw a significant decline. In 2019 we had 748,000 direct jobs and we supported almost two million in total. One in 10 workers in Canada had a job related to tourism. In 2020 that all changed. The number of direct jobs dropped by close to 30%, down to 533,000. The number of related jobs dropped to 1.6 million.
These stats are not just numbers on a piece of paper. Jobs are a sense of pride to many. It is how they pay their bills and support their families. Jobs in our industry make a mark on this country, our friends and our neighbours.
The pandemic impacted tourism more than any other sector. By December 2020, there were 10% fewer active tourism businesses than there were the previous year. This is more than three times lower than the contraction of the Canadian economy overall, at 3.1%. No sector was spared.
With the recent new variant and increasing testing requirements, as an industry we feel as though we are going backwards. Tourism businesses and the many thousands of workers they employ are still at serious risk today without continued federal support, especially over the winter months, until higher tourism levels are expected to return in the spring. This, of course, is assuming that new variants are kept under control and new infection cases continue to decrease.
Since the onset of the pandemic the industry has effectively lost two full seasons as borders were closed and other travel restrictions and lockdowns were in place. Businesses have faced crippling revenue losses and drained financial reserves and have taken on substantial debt. Without the financial support provided by Bill C-2, many companies simply will not survive the winter, and many more jobs will be lost. It is imperative that the support provided through Bill C-2 be made available to all eligible tourism businesses, including indigenous tourism businesses.
Before the pandemic, I would note, the growth of the indigenous tourism sector was outpacing that in the industry as a whole. I would also highlight that emergency support programs put in place at the onset of the pandemic did not respond to the realities of many indigenous businesses.
We appreciate the support Parliament has already put in place, but as the rest of the economy recovers, the tourism industry continues to deal with changing restrictions and capacity limits, and that is why we have advocated sector-specific support. That said, TIAC encourages the passing of Bill C-2 as quickly as possible. We also look forward to working expeditiously with all MPs during this parliamentary session towards the development and implementation of a number of strategies to address other critical issues related to the indigenous tourism sector and the significant labour shortage, and to rebuilding overall traveller confidence. I am confident that by working together over the months and years ahead, we will achieve our mutual goal of recovering Canada's travel economy and regaining our leading competitive position in the global tourism market.
In closing, I wish to express my deepest appreciation for the leadership each of you and your respective parties have demonstrated in support of helping to rebuild Canada's tourism industry. While I've delivered these remarks in English, I would be pleased to answer questions that you may have in either English or French.
Thank you.