Ontario tourism yet to receive $100 million as promised

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Not a penny of the money promised has flowed to the businesses, even after six months Ontario’s tourism industry was assured of $100 million to help the sector to pull through from the ill effects of the pandemic.

This setback leaves hundreds of tourism operators across the state in an uncertain situation as they get ready for what they hope will be their busiest summers in these three years.

On September 2021, Premier Doug Ford’s government declared about the creation of the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program. It gave businesses a mid-November deadline to apply.

In eight weeks, tourism operators were told to anticipate a response and also to stay prepared to start spending the money as of April 1. None of the funding has been disbursed with that date just two days away and the government isn’t saying when it will be able to.

To quote Derek Rowland, a spokesperson for Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod, “We are currently working through the applications. This pandemic was particularly difficult for this sector. As a result, the response to the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program was significant.”

A senior government official told CBC News that for funding, around 700 businesses applied, and their combined requests mean the $100-million program is oversubscribed. The official said MacLeod is pushing cabinet to agree to boost the funding.

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