Tourism Industry Association of BC proposes $680 million stimulus package

Jul 23, 2020 | 10:09 AM

The Tourism Industry Association of BC is a coalition of more than 19,000 businesses that serve the millions of tourists who visit the province each year.

On Tuesday (July 21), the group presented the Province with a proposed $680 million stimulus package, which would help offset the significant losses the industry is experiencing due to COVID-19.

Privato Winery and the Woodward Cider Company in Westsyde is a regular stop for Terri Axani, who runs DiVine Tours. Despite COVID-19, she says demand for the tours she operates is still high.

“We’re turning people away in droves, and doing everything we can to accommodate more groups,” Axani says. “They are, of course, smaller groups.”

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Axani has worked in the tourism and hospitality industry for much of her career. She can see things are tough for many in the business of serving travellers.

“Certainly the hotels are the biggest hit,” Axani says. “The local restaurants and brewpubs at limited capacity, those are incredibly hard hit, and I’m so fortunate to be able to support them.”

Thanks to COVID-19, much of the revenue tourism and hospitality creates will no longer be there for 2020. The $680 million stimulus package is meant to help businesses weather the pandemic and remain intact.

“It’s a $20 billion-plus industry [in BC], looking at the 2018 stats,” Vivek Sharma explains.

Sharma is the Chair of the Tourism Industry Association of BC. The group represents almost 20,000 hospitality and tourism businesses through the province, most of which are small- to medium-sized.

“From the $680 million, a big chunk of that is meant to help businesses get to the other end, with liquidity,” Sharma says. “So that when this is over, we are all standing on our own two feet.”

According to the media release from TIABC, the best-case scenario for 2020 is a 69% drop in tourism-related revenue this summer. Woodward Cider Company in Kamloops felt the sting of the pandemic early on in their season.

“Initially, it had a big impact on us, as it did everywhere,” Adam Woodward says. “But now, things are starting to open up a little bit.”

With all of the COVID-19 safety protocols in place, many businesses will be hard-pressed to match previous years’ revenue. However, Adam Woodward hopes this stimulus could help bring increase awareness for travellers coming to the region.

“A big stimulus package like that is obviously going to be welcomed by everybody in the tourism industry,” Woodward tells CFJC Today. “We might not see that money directly, but more indirectly, with advertising campaigns trying to get the people out here.”

by Adam Donnelly

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