Thank you for the question.
Certainly the wage subsidy was huge for the tourism sector in northern Ontario and especially for those who were dependent on the U.S. market and unable to attract the domestic visitor. In terms of our lodge, we went from 500 customers in 2019 to 52 in 2020. With the wage subsidy, we were able to protect our core staff of six to work for us. Last year, we had a bit of rebound. We were up to 200 guests. Again, that wage subsidy meant that we were able to keep eight staff working—including two students—for the season.
That has primarily been the biggest support to us. I know that a lot of properties have applied for the tourism relief fund and for help through FedNor as well. I know there are some programs through the CFDCs. In our case, we did take out a loan with our CFDC because we didn't want to fall behind in our capital upgrade program and in purchasing boats. We didn't want to sting the marina for the boats and motors that we had ordered and leave them hanging. Even though we knew we were only going to have 52 customers, we still purchased those.
The northern Ontario and especially the RBT sector is not going to recover until the U.S. visitors can get across. I think Lynnette talked about the vaccination rate in Michigan. Overall, it's only 56% in Michigan, so it's quite an uphill climb for our sector.
As far as using the app goes, I'm not an epidemiologist. I just don't see how it makes it safer for us, because I can go to Mackinac Island next week—the largest tourist attraction in the U.S. Midwest—and spend the day and hang out with all kinds of people who are ineligible to come to Canada, yet I can come back because I'll use the app. There was a time and place, but we just need to look at what we can do to remove restrictions where we can and to get people moving again.