They were central to our industry being closed for that period of time. I think all Canadians believe that many of those restrictions were required at the time with COVID, and we certainly supported them. We did what we needed to do to keep Canadians safe.
You are correct that Canada did open later than some other countries did. In our sector, that's why we were last to market to hire people back. That's why many of our employees shifted to other sectors that were open over that time period. Other countries did open before Canada, so that has also put us at a competitive disadvantage, because they are way ahead of us in terms of investing in their tourism growth strategies, to the tune of $2 billion over three years in France, $1.2 billion in Australia and 1.6 billion euros in Spain. There is a wonderful moment here for Canada to rebuild our tourism sector, which was deeply devastated, at a time when demand for Canada is at an all-time high.
Those investments would also be worthwhile when we think about the looming recession. Historic data would show that the tourism and hospitality sector is effectively recession-proof, in the sense that it's not one of the things that get cut. As we are looking at a recession and we are an industry that is poised for growth, we are truly hoping the government will make the kinds of investments we need to see to build the next Fogo Island Inn and to invest in those attractions so we can welcome the world to Canada and meet our growth potential.