THUNDER BAY – Travel has dropped to next to nothing in the COVID-19 era, but Paul Pepe is still holding out hope all is not lost for 2020.
But with borders shut down and people being encouraged not to leave their hometowns, the city’s tourism manager says his department may take a bit of a different tack when the global pandemic starts to wane and the public begins to think vacationing again.
The strategy will likely focus closer to home at first, before broadening out to the province, the rest of the country, south of the border and then finally, overseas.
“We certainly anticipate when the recovery period begins we need to be ready for it,” Pepe said, adding his staff are busy looking at a range of options of what a recovery strategy might look like.
“I would think it’s a fair assessment to say that the close-haul market, the domestic market, will be the first to recover. I think this will be a summer when Canadians will be staying in their country, much like Americans will be staying in their country and Europeans will be largely staying in their countries as well.”
The focus coming out of the pandemic will be two-fold, Pepe said.
“We’ve got to get local residents out for a quick recovery and support to our tourism attractions. We need the local market out supporting the local attractions and local culinary partners. The recovery starts at home,” Pepe said.
“Then concentrically out from that, we see the provincial and then we see the national strategies to encourage Canadians to move about once they feel safe to do so and once we have the green light from our provincial and federal health agencies.”
The big question remains, how big of an economic impact will COVID-19 have on tourism in Ontario’s Northwest.
Pepe said it’s too soon to tell, but the number is going to be high in magnitude.
“The economic impact for the industry locally is going to be in the tens of millions of dollars. We haven’t put a firm figure on it now,” Pepe said.
He added they are routinely surveying tourism outfitters and entrepreneurs to see how they’re holding up as well.
Pepe noted the outbreak has had a major impact on the hospitality sector, with up to 700,000 of the 1.2 million employed in the industry across the country out of work. Additionally airlines have either laid off thousands, in the case of WestJet and AirCanada, or halted operations, as is the case with Porter Airlines.
Their business plans will also impact travel to Thunder Bay.
“The impacts locally, right now, is hard to pinpoint, but it’s going to be big and it’s going to be significant. But what’s really encouraging in all of this is we’re seeing a lot of tenacity in our industry. We’re seeing a lot of creativity in our industry.”
Pepe said a planned cruise ship visit to Thunder Bay in June has not yet been cancelled, adding they are likely watching the situation unfold before making decisions.
“They’re not wholesale cancelling entire seasons or itineraries. They’re playing it by ear. But they have cancelled their itineraries through to April 28,” Pepe said.
