More Help On The Way for Tourism Businesses in Ontario, Minister MacLeod Says

More Help On The Way for Tourism Businesses in Ontario, Minister MacLeod Says

May 10, 2021 Jim Byers

A major tourism announcement is coming on Thursday, with significant help for the industry, Ontario Tourism Minister Lisa MacLeod said today.

Speaking at a noon-hour “lunch and learn” session, MacLeod said the announcement will “send significant funds” into the industry. She also said the oft-discussed Ontario travel tax credit, which would offer provincial residents rebates of up to 20% of their costs for Ontario vacations, could come into effect on July 1, and that an announcement about the future of Ontario Place on Toronto’s waterfront is coming this month.

Details were sketchy, but MacLeod said the Ontario government provided $1 billion for the tourism sector in its recent budget, and that it’s committed to helping the sector, which she said has been hit harder by the pandemic than any part of the Ontario economy.

MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture , said she understands businesses are anxious to reopen, but that Ontario and the Doug Ford government want to make sure it does the right thing and opens only when it’s safe to do so.

Darrell Bricker, President and CEO of Ipsos, said some Canadians are itching to get out and will get back to their old lives as soon as they can. But he said it will take some time.

“There will be people if we open back up that will want to travel. It won’t be like what it was, because it’s going to take some time. Remember, it’s not a (regular on/off) switch; it’s a dimmer switch. It’s going to take some time for people to cue in and what they need in order to be happy that something is going to be safe.”

Bricker said COVID-19 numbers will have to be dropping and medical authorities will have to make it clear that it’s safe before travel resumes. They also have to see with their own eyes what their experience might be like.

“If it looks like it’s going to be worth it and it looks like it’s going to be safe … that the cases are going down and that people who are engaged in what they’re going to be doing are vaccinated, then you’ll get” some kind of rebound.

MacLeod said Toronto and Ottawa have been particularly hard hit by a lack of business travel and international travel during the pandemic. “I think that’s going to be a struggle getting back.”