Canadian Tourism Industry in

shatters
by Maj (ret'd) CORNELIU E. CHISU, CD, PMSC,
FEC, CET, P. Eng.
Former Member of Parliament Pickering-Scarborough East
  As the economic meltdown comes to Canada after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, which is still very much in the news and continues to rage despite efforts of vaccination, the tourism industry is one of the hardest hit and will be very slow to recover.
A new report says that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada's tourism industry is facing a crisis greater than the combined impacts of September 11th, 2001, the SARS outbreak and the 2008 global financial meltdown.
The report comes from Destination Canada; a Crown corporation whose mandate is to promote domestic tourism. The organization says the depth of the pandemic damage means it will be a long recovery for the tourist industry, with potential shock waves for other areas of the economy.
The report says the tourism industry is linked to one in 10 Canadian jobs and invites Canadians to support the industry by taking domestic vacations once the public health situation improves.
The report says if enough Canadians shift their international travel plans to focus on domestic destinations, it could speed up the industry's recovery by up to one year. Without any major change in consumer spending habits, the agency says it would take five years for the industry to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels.
Speaking of international tourism; the current air travel restrictions Canada has imposed are hardly likely to encourage international travellers to come to Canada, especially in the upcoming summer season.
The continued closure of the US - Canada border to non essential terrestrial traffic and restrictions on air traffic will have a devastating impact on Canadian tourism, drastically decreasing the number of visitors we will be seeing from the United States.
Some people in the industry are also observing a change in the number of people coming from overseas, particularly from China - the second-largest long-haul market for Canada-bound tourists and the source of the virus.
The current political tensions between Canada and China will not help to improve tourism from China, either.
 "Bookings are down from China by about 70 per cent between March and October, so that's obviously quite considerable," said Maya Lange, the vice-president of global marketing with Destination BC, a Crown corporation focused on attracting visitors to the province.
So we are left with Europe. Several Canadian tourism marketing agencies are increasing efforts to attract people from the European Union and the United Kingdom.
For the moment, however, Canada is closed to non essential international visitors.  As for festivals, trade shows and similar large events that would normally attract large numbers of visitors., federal and provincial health authorities in Ontario and British Columbia have so far cancelled them all.

The only inbound international travellers allowed by our governments are returning Canadian citizens, landed immigrants and their family members.  Those unfortunate people returning by air have to endure a drastic and expensive quarantine order, rigorously and heartlessly enforced. The air travelers are forced to stay in government designated hotels for up to three days at their own expense before they are cleared to continue their fourteen days quarantine at home if authorities are satisfied. If not, they are confined to government facilities till they are cleared from quarantine.

Might this be an effort on the part of the federal government to bail out the hotel and tourism industry? It is clear for now that they are not helping the aviation industry at all; an industry on which the pandemic has also had a devastating effect.
It's important to understand what is at stake. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, Canada's air sector not only enjoyed ten years of growth, but continually built on that growth by investing in airport and public infrastructure and expanding regional and global routes and connectivity.
This commitment translated into billions of dollars in long-term investments, created tens of thousands of jobs, and supported growth in Canada's $104 billion tourism industry.

After 12 wearying months of dealing with crushing passenger declines, airports are drained. They are borrowing just to keep their doors open, while airlines park their aircraft and cancel routes. Canada's air sector is essential to our economic and social wellbeing, and the federal government must decide how it will serve us in the future.

With airport revenue losses now projected in the billions, there is an urgent need for federal and provincial governments to work with airports and other industry stakeholders to create a plan if we are to emerge from the pandemic with a functioning air sector.
If the federal government does not become a more engaged partner in the long-term viability and competitiveness of our air sector, we will face a long debilitating situation.
There is a need to mitigate the impact of the increased travel restrictions imposed during the last quarter of 2020 and early 2021. The Canadian Airport Council's December outlook projects that revenue losses for Canada's airports have deepened to $5.5 billion for 2020 and 2021 - a $1 billion deterioration since the last analysis was released in August.
There is a need for a serious government plan to lift travel restrictions as soon as the time is right and support recovery, or else we will face a real crisis. It's not just airlines and airports at risk: Canadian jobs and opportunity are as well. When the Canadian air network shrinks, our entire country is diminished.

We have seen other jurisdictions, including the United States, spend billions of public dollars to defend the integrity of their airports and airlines.
On the reverse we have seen our own industry shrink to pre-1970s levels of demand and revenue with no attention from the federal government.

Do we restore our national network or close regional airports and force Canadians in smaller communities to drive hundreds of miles for a flight? Do we ensure Canadians have access to reasonably-priced air service or force them to drive to the U.S. for an affordable flight?
It's good to remember that without the vision that built the Canadian transcontinental railway in the 19th century, there would be no Canada. Today, in the 21st century, it's aviation that binds us as a nation and connects us to the world.

Our government has a critical choice to make and soon. As Sir John A. Macdonald said when fighting for his vision of a Canada united by rail. "We are a great country and shall become one of the greatest in the universe if we preserve it; we shall sink into insignificance and adversity if we suffer it to be broken."
Let's be serious!