Wednesday, December 1, 2021
As per the new data, the impact of the pandemic on Ontario’s Indigenous tourism industry was released today by Indigenous Tourism Ontario (ITO). It shows an apparent picture of the expected recovery timeline to get back to the economic numbers that prevailed during pre-pandemic times. It describes the impact on jobs and the contribution of the sector on Gross Domestic Product.
The comprehensive Impact Assessment of COVID-19 on the Indigenous Tourism Industry of Ontario, commissioned by ITO, projects Indigenous tourism in the province will get well in 2022 partly and will not return to 2019 GDP and employment levels until 2023.
To quote Kevin Eshkawkogan, President and CEO of Indigenous Tourism Ontario, “In 2019, Ontario was home to Canada’s largest Indigenous tourism industry. We employed about 13,000 people and contributed more than $650 million to the GDP. This Impact Assessment confirms our earlier projections about the pandemic’s influence. The industry here in Ontario has lost 4,000 jobs and real GDP has fallen by almost half to $332 million”.
Even though pandemic’s impact has been significant, Ontario’s Indigenous tourism sector remains quite hopeful in terms of recovery and resilience. 87% of operators claim that they are quite confident about operating through a short-term crisis. MDB Insight’s Impact Assessment identified access to capital and availability of government supports among tourism operators’ top priorities for business resilience. The research team was headed by MDB Insight’s Chris Bandak and sees the importance of those needs being met. “Even with projections showing a likely return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, tourism operators will need those supports to remain resilient and regain lost ground” he said. “This new data tells a compelling story about the state of the sector and what it will take to help operators get through this”.
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
