Doug Ford Budget a “Big Win,” Says Tourism Industry Association of Ontario

March 24, 2021 Jim Byers

The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) has welcomed a series of initiatives announced today in the Ontario provincial budget that will support the province’s battered tourism industry.

The new Ontario Tourism and Hospitality Small Business Support Grant will help the immediate challenges of solvency for tourism businesses and the Tourism Recovery Fund will help tourism businesses reopen, restructure and stay competitive in the most dynamic industry in the world and safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. Both are valued at $100 million, said Christopher Bloore, TIAO’S Vice President of Policy and Government.

“We had two big wins today,” Bloore told Canadian Travel News.

He also lauded the Ontario government for a $50 million fund for Northern Ontario and for re-affirming support for a previously announced program that will provide tax credits to Ontario residents who vacation in the province this year.

Bloore said the Ontario Tourism and Hospitality Small Business Support Grant will provide up to $20,000 in forgivable loans to tourism businesses who previously had been left out. That includes hotels, lodges, fishing camps and other operations, he said.

The grant is open to tourism industry companies with fewer than 100 employees that have experienced at least a 20% decline in revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said it was decided to make the small business aid a grant versus a loan that would have increased business debt.

“I’ve had people tell me that the grant was the difference between keeping the lights on and closing forever,” Bethlenfalvy said.

“Ontario’s heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries are responsible for a spectacular double bottom line, both economic and social, that combined represents $75-billion to our economy and hundreds of thousands of jobs in communities across the province,” Ontario Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod said in a statement for Canadian Travel News. “The pandemic hit our sector first, the hardest and is expected to take the longest to recover. I am so grateful for the resiliency and creativity each industry has shown throughout the pandemic, be it film & television, hospitality, the music industry, sports leagues and recreation facilities or the performing arts.

“To help further fuel these industries, I’m pleased to share with you that our government will be supporting our sectors through the 2021 Budget with nearly $1 billion dollars worth of support,” MacLeod said. “By working together, we will ensure your industries can continue to support the double bottom line – both their cultural and economic impact – so that Ontario remains the best place in the world to live, work, and play.”

The tourism industry was the first to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and is likely to be the
last to recover, TIAO said.

“An industry that had been growing at an exponential rate, creating $36 billion in
economic activity, sustaining over 200,000 businesses and 400,000 jobs in Ontario has ground
to a halt. Profitable businesses have been mandated to close by government or severely restrict
their operations, cutting off their revenue streams whilst their fixed costs have risen, leaving
many to make large scale layoffs or take on unsustainable levels of debt to survive this crisis.”

TIAO has strongly argued for sector specific support to ensure the tourism industry survives the
COVID-19 pandemic and can help lead the economic resurgence when the virus is defeated.
TIAO’s blueprint for resurgence has focused on the necessity for immediate financial support to
help tourism businesses survive this pandemic and government support to help create the
environment for tourism to be at heart of provinces economic rebound. The initiatives
announced by the government today will significantly help tourism businesses to do both, Bloore said.

“TIAO is delighted that at this critical time, the government has identified the tourism industry
as a key component of the Ontario economy and has recognized the unique and unprecedented
damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re pleased that the government has taken on
many of our key recommendations and put forward a series of programs that will help the
tourism industry survive and thrive when the pandemic is over.”

The new Ontario Tourism and Hospitality Small Business Support Grant will help the immediate
challenges of solvency for tourism businesses and the Tourism Recovery Fund will help tourism
businesses reopen, restructure and stay competitive in the most dynamic industry in the world
and safeguard the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Ontarians.

These programs combined with the governments recommitment to the Ontario Staycation
Credit, new tax credits designed to help support Ontarian’s get back into work and training,
investment in broadband and extra funding for the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund
Corporation, demonstrates a government wide commitment to our industry and its importance
in the economic future of the province.”

“TIAO thanks Minister Bethlenfalvy and (Tourism) Minister (Lisa) MacLeod for their unrelenting support for our
industry and commitment to working collaboratively to ensure we emerge from this pandemic
stronger than when we entered it. ”

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