Canada’s Tourism Industry Impact and Recovery Outlook for 2020 and Beyond

September 30, 2020

The Empire Club of Canada Presents

Canada’s Tourism Industry: Impact and Recovery Outlook for 2020 and Beyond-

Chairman: Antoinette Tummillo, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada

Moderator
Vanmala Subramaniam, Business Reporter, The Logic

Distinguished Guest Speakers
Scott Beck, President & Chief Executive Officer, Destination Toronto
Ross Jefferson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Discover Halifax
Beth Potter, President & Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO)
Marsha Walden, President & Chief Executive Officer, Destination Canada

Introduction
It is a great honour for me to be here at the Empire Club of Canada today, which is arguably the most famous and historically relevant speaker’s podium to have ever existed in Canada. It has offered its podium to such international luminaries as Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, the Dalai Lama, Indira Gandhi, and closer to home, from Pierre Trudeau to Justin Trudeau; literally generations of our great nation's leaders, alongside with those of the world's top international diplomats, heads of state, and business and thought leaders.

It is a real honour and distinct privilege to be invited to speak to the Empire Club of Canada, which has been welcoming international diplomats, leaders in business, and in science, and in politics. When they stand at that podium, they speak not only to the entire country, but they can speak to the entire world.

Welcome Address by Antoinette Tummillo, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, fellow directors, past presidents, members, and guests. Welcome to the 117th season of the Empire Club of Canada. My name is Antoinette Tummillo, and I am the president of the Empire Club of Canada, and your host for today's virtual event on "Canada's Tourism Industry: Impact and Recovery for 2020 and Beyond," featuring Scott Beck, Ross Jefferson, Beth Porter, Marsha Walden, and moderator Vanmala Subramaniam. I now call this meeting to order.

Now, before we begin today, I have a few logistical items to let you know of. If you're finding your internet feed is slow, please see below and click the" Switch Streams" button. There's also a "Request for Help" button available to you if you are experiencing technical difficulties. I want to take a moment to recognize our sponsors, who generously support the Empire Club and make these events possible. Thank you to our Supporting Sponsor today, Spirits Canada, and our Season Sponsors, Canadian Bankers Association and Waste Connections Canada. I also want to thank our event partner, VVC Communications, and livemeeting.ca, Canada's online event space, for webcasting today's event.

We are here today to talk about the state of our tourism industry, an industry that touches many of us, and has been the hardest hit by COVID-19. As a 105 billion-dollar sector accounting for two percent of Canada's GDP, the restrictions and economic impacts presented by the pandemic affect three types of travel: number one, domestic travel, our ability to discover our own country and visit friends and family who live in other parts of the country; number two, business travel, attracting conventions and meetings to Canada; and three, international travel, Canada's ability to host visitors from around the world. The US accounts for the majority of international visitors to Canada, followed by China. It is a dynamic and vastly diverse industry comprised of innovative businesses in every region of the country. The travel supply chain involves many small and medium-sized businesses, involving accommodations, transportation, attractions, and the food and beverage hospitality sector.

Canadians are being encouraged to discover their own backyard in 2020. Yet the fear of COVID-19, despite the regulation of safety protocols and public-facing businesses, is influencing our behaviour, as are the restrictions around inter-provincial border crossings. Safe mobility for travelers is a priority for successful recovery, as we continue to battle the virus over the coming months and into 2021.

And now, let me briefly introduce to you our panel. Scott Beck, President and Chief Executive Officer, Destination Toronto, is a champion of the visitor economy and a proven leader in the destination sales and marketing industry. He spent 14 years as the President and CEO of Visit Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served on the Executive Committee of Destinations International for six years and as the organization's International Board Chair from 2014 to 2015. Ross Jefferson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Discover Halifax, is the regional destination marketing organization responsible for overseeing the growth of the tourism economy in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ross has an Executive MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He also recently served as Board Director with the Canadian Automobile Association and the Destination Marketing Association of Canada. Beth Potter, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, she leads the advocacy efforts for the tourism industry in Ontario, by promoting the importance of tourism as an economic driver and job creator for Ontario. Beth is a recognized leader with more than 25 years of experience in not-for-profit and tourism sectors. She has worked with a variety of boards, committees, and volunteers across the tourism industry. Marsha Walden, President and CEO of Destination Canada. Through her career, has held leadership roles in strategy and organizational renewal, marketing and communication, social responsibility, operations management, and business innovation. She joined Destination British Columbia as President and CEO in 2013 and led the newly formed Provincial Crown Corporation to create groundbreaking strategies for tourism development and nationally recognized data-driven performance marketing. Most recently, on August 18th, Marsha was appointed by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Federal Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, to the position of President and CEO of Destination Canada. Congratulations, Marsha, on your recent appointment.

This panel will be moderated by Vanmala Subramaniam. She's a business reporter with The Logic, focusing on Canada's tech sector and innovation economy. She's a business journalist with over a decade of reporting across Canadian media, and she previously worked at Financial Post, where she covered the cannabis industry. She has traveled the world producing investigative documentaries.

Now, before we get started, I just want to remind everyone on this call that this is an interactive event. We encourage you to take advantage of the question box to the right of your screen and let us know what is on your mind, and if you have any questions for our panellists. Vanmala, over to you.

Vanmala Subramaniam, Business Reporter, The Logic
Thanks so much. Really excited to be here. I think this will be an excellent discussion. So, I think I'm just gonna start with Marsha. I, I really want to—just so everyone is on the same page, I, I really want to get a sense from you, Marsha, as to what are, maybe, the two to three biggest trends that you saw in the last six months, that impacted the tourism sector in Canada? Just, you know, just so we're all anchored, and we know what we're talking about. And I think that'll be a good place to start.

Marsha Walden, President & Chief Executive Officer, Destination Canada
Great, well, thank you so much, Vanmala, and good afternoon, everyone. I think maybe a good starting place is just to get a feel for how the industry impacts Canada. As Antoinette said, this is a 105-billion-dollar industry, and a significant contributor to our overall economy. But it's kind of hard to get a sense of that, I think, when you're talking dollars. And more importantly, this is 2.2 million jobs in our country, about 740,000 of which are direct jobs. So, when we're talking about impacts, I think it's really critical to think about, you know, what is the human impact of some of the numbers that I'm going to be talking about today. And there's really no way of characterizing what's going on in our industry, or has gone on over the course of this crisis, other than it has been completely devastating for the tourism industry. You know, we're talking about an industry that, for the five years prior, was on an incredible growth spurt—a high-growth, high-performance industry that was outperforming Canada's GDP by almost double every year—and it has been brought to its knees in the space of just six months. And just to give you a few data points to characterize the level of impact that we see in our industry, that I think few others could, could say they're anywhere near: consider that airline revenues—and not just the big players, but airlines right across our country, regional players as well—are down 95 percent; accommodation down 82 percent; the business events and meetings side of our business down 87 percent; and festivals and events, which enhance the quality of life for every community in this country, down 100 percent.

So, those are the sorts of impacts that have an immediate toll, of course, on businesses everywhere, and on the human side of those businesses, which are the employees right across the country.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Right. That's, you know, it's clearly decimated the sector. Scott, I want to focus on you, because I want to talk a little bit about Toronto. Can you kind of differentiate, or maybe characterize to us how the city coped with the impact when we were in full lockdown mode, in April and May, and when we started opening up? And I ask this question because Toronto is a big destination for business travel. So, I want to know if there has been, actually, a big change in terms of the movement of people, spending in the city, people coming in, and, you know, tourist dollars coming into that city. Maybe you can talk to us a little bit about that.

Scott Beck, President & Chief Executive Officer, Destination Toronto
Thank you. And also, thanks to the Empire Club for this, for bringing our industry to this podium. It’s very welcome. So, a lot like Marsha said, I mean, during the lockdown, it was a complete shutdown, as it was for many industries. But, again, I think we characterize our industry as the hardest hit—and not just internally, that's how it’s viewed. So, I think, to make it sort of oversimplified, Toronto has three major markets. We have the sort of traditional leisure tourism that people expect, that's part of any sort of big urban environment. But the other two markets are more impactful, and for a city like Toronto, where, really, the travel comes from, that is our business events—so conventions, meetings, events—those are absolutely foundational to our tourism economy. And then there is the business travel. That corporate travel that is just part of our economy, but also just so much a part of who our community is.

So, you know, those three markets. Then you overlay the fact that 48 percent of our visitors are international. And, again, this is not just leisure international; this is business events, professional societies, corporate travel from the US, from Europe. So, as we were in the lockdown, all of those were shut off. And then as we opened, two of those three markets were also shut off. Business events, as Marsha noted, were 87 percent down—so that's pretty much non-existent—and then also corporate transient travel has really been curtailed, if not turned off. So, as we came out of it, we were really dependent on hyper-local and then drive traffic, which in the metro area like Toronto is important, but it is really not significant in terms of how our industry has functioned in the past. So, you know, that sort of perfect storm of, of those three segments all being impacted dramatically has made it tough. And to put it in perspective, you have, you know, rural areas in our province that are operating between maybe 60 percent and 70 percent occupancy on the weekends, and we're still hovering around 13 percent occupancy in the downtown core of Toronto. So, it is still very, very impactful to us.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Ross, Halifax, and, you know, the Atlantic provinces chose a completely different route, where they formed this sort of bubble. Could you just, maybe, talk to me a little bit about how that bubble strategy has worked for the East Coast, Halifax in particular?

Ross Jefferson, President & Chief Executive Officer, Discover Halifax
Yeah, sure. I mean, the bubble consisting of the four Atlantic provinces, that was put in place on July 1st. You know, I think our entire industry agrees that the best economic strategies actually keep the curve flattened. And, you know, this is sometimes being presented as an and/or. And I think the industry really wants to convey that it's not an and/or. I think that these things can coexist; it just has to be managed very carefully.

The question really for the Atlantic Bubble is, you know, what is that goal, specifically? And we don't have that specifically defined. Look, the public is certainly supportive of keeping the bubble closed, here in Atlantic Canada. We've got one of the lowest rates of support for travel from outside of our bubble—76 percent of Atlantic Canadians want to keep the bubble closed. And we know that public opinion matters, and it influences policy. Now, if you were to ask our industry what's our, what's our industry's take is on this, I think right now you kind of get a bit of a mixed review, from even our own industry. Some businesses are more dependent on markets outside of the bubble, and others have been less so, or they've had the ability to adapt. And, you know, with hindsight, right now, we can see that there are some advantages of the bubble. With our borders closed, certainly, our markets have shrunk. But alternatives for travel for people from within the bubble have also shrunk. So, it's a smaller piece of pie, but we're getting, I guess, the greater share of that.

The reality now, though, I think, is that it's not about competition with other destinations; it's really about competition for non-tourism alternatives. So, you know, we do think that right now it's critical that events, programming, activities, those types of things are key to our competition, to have people still traveling within the bubble. So, you know, one of the strong potential advantages of the bubble—or should I say, you know, having virtually zero cases—is that the restriction of movement inside our bubble is certainly being relaxed quite significantly. And we're starting to see the ability to do things in this bubble that we couldn't before. We can now host 2,000 people in our Scotiabank Centre. We're seeing the return of Québec Major Junior Hockey, other professional sports teams coming back and about to play. We're seeing conferences return that are regional in nature, with up to 200 in size, and we're working on strategies to increase that. But perhaps more importantly, people within the bubble are starting to feel more safe to travel. We have one of the highest safety beliefs in support travel, interprovincial travel in the bubble, at 88 percent.

So, look, I think that the jury's still out as to whether this was the right strategy, the wrong strategy. There's definitely winners and losers. But, you know, I think ultimately, the long-term sustainability of maintaining a bubble doesn't make sense. We've got to be opening up to safe markets when it's appropriate. And I think that's the key to the recovery for our industry, nationally and globally.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Beth. I'm, I'm gonna now direct this question to you, jumping off on what Ross just said. Do you, do you think that this bubble strategy necessarily only works, maybe, in places that are less dense, and it would be hard to actually implement this in provinces like Ontario? Especially now when we see the cases rise. You're muted, Beth.

Beth Potter, President & Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO)
I wasn't gonna do that!

Vanmala Subramaniam
We're all gonna do it.

Marsha Walden
Yeah.

Beth Potter
I think that bubble would be very difficult. We've already seen over the past six months challenges with people moving around, you know, our own province. And because of the geographic differences in our province, and because it's so big, there's been some resentment towards people from outside their local area coming in. And it comes back to not just a fear of the virus itself, but it comes back to, can our healthcare system manage an outbreak, if it were to happen in our local community? And so, that's certainly been an underlying issue.

But it's important to remind residents that tourism is part of our cultural fabric here in Canada. Ross mentioned junior hockey tournaments. You know, for a lot of rural Ontario, junior hockey tournaments are a huge part of their tourism industry. And the ripple effect if they don't come, means that restaurants, and grocery stores ,and hotels, and gas stations, don't see the revenue from those events either. So, there's an underlying ripple effect that we have to take into consideration. Tourism is an important part of the local economy, regardless of how small or how big your economy is.

Vanmala Subramaniam
That's interesting. I actually want to open this up and direct this question to, I guess, all of you. I think in our previous pre-panel discussion, we really got into the balance between government policies and the economic impact of tourism. So, maybe I can ask all of you, at what point did you think that certain government policies, or just the approach we've taken to the virus, has been too much of an overreach, in terms of the impact it's had on, you know, the cities and the tourism sectors in urban Canada and rural Canada? Marsha, maybe I can start with you.

Marsha Walden
Commenting on government policy probably isn't the best place to put me right now, Vanmala. I will say that, certainly, from the perspective of our industry, you know, what we are hearing from organizations like Beth's and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, is that for our industry to have any hope of recovery in the next 12 to 18 months, there needs to be more of a domestic view of our country, as opposed to a province-by-province take on how to manage our healthcare. And we are seeing examples around the world of more of a nationalistic approach rather than a, I guess, more compartmentalized provincial and territorial approach. And countries like, you know, large ones like China, and smaller ones like New Zealand, have really tried to manage it as a country as opposed to individual provinces and states for the most part. So, perhaps I'll let Beth pile on to that one.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Please, Beth, go ahead.

Beth Potter
Exactly. I mean, this is not—in order to create a seamless travel experience for the traveller, we need to be lined up all together. Tourism is a global industry. Regardless of if you're travelling for leisure or for business, tourism is a global industry. And so, we need to make sure that not only is Ontario working with the other provinces, but nationally, we're working with other countries, so that when a traveller is going from point A to point B, from country A to country B, the experience is the same. They know what to expect, they know how to plan, and they know what to expect on the other end, should a positive test case come up. So, contact tracing and testing; so incredibly important. And we've been working globally with the World Travel and Tourism Council and countries around the world to try and make that happen. I'm very, very excited last week to see and hear that nine countries in the European Union have come together and started working collaboratively on this. And that's a really important step. And it's one that Canada is going to have to make soon.

Vanmala Subramaniam
You know, on that note, actually, Beth, I thought about something. So, if we properly implement contact tracing and rapid-testing kits, so that everyone gets tested before they board a plane, and things like that, when they enter a new country, how do you then overcome the fear people have of, I guess, being in close proximity to each other for a long period of time, say on a plane? Because I think that's part of the reason why you're also seeing bookings down and planes not being able to take off, because there are too few people wanting to travel. Scott, maybe you could jump in here if you have thoughts.

Scott Beck
Yeah, I do. I think a lot of it is messaging, and I think a lot of it comes back to messaging from the government. And I want to recognize that, that public safety is hard. It is a difficult proposition. But I'll call out one example where I think we could have a better process for sharing information. We highlight the number of cases on an airplane that lands at Toronto Pearson Airport with the number of COVID cases that were tested on the airplane. There is no record of a transmission of the virus on an airplane. Airplanes have filtration systems. So, that person that boarded the plane had the virus; they didn't get the virus on the plane. And so, this idea that the airplane could be a potential way to spread the virus is not accurate. There is not a documented case of a transmission on an airplane. And so, I think that type of messaging, when they say, this is how many people were on this flight that landed with COVID, continually perpetuates this idea that it was on the airline, that someone got that, or that the opportunity is there for you to get the virus on an airplane. And some of that type of communication, I think, is where we've got to find a better way to share information that has public safety in it's orientation, but also, has a better way to explain the impact.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Ross, would you agree with that? Is the way in which we're communicating these directives to people about travel, you know, could it be done better, I guess?

Ross Jefferson
Well, yeah. And again, I would echo what Scott said. I certainly wouldn't want to be in the position of setting all the rules and doing all this; it's an incredible job to be doing. But I do think that, you know, we have done an incredible job of, you know, communicating the risks across this entire country associated with this, and we've scared people—and rightfully so. But I think that, within that context, there are some things that are disproportionately perceived to be higher risk: travelling on planes is an example. It is people's close proximity to one another, and not respecting the rules that are in place of social distancing, and wearing masks, and those types of things, that is probably the greater opportunity for us to focus on. And, you know, we know the travel industry has been hit hard from this. But the element of travel does not cause the virus to happen. It's almost like there's a perception that, if you travel, it causes it. It is the close contact of people that spread it. And I think it's a miss. I don't think we are not communicating that quite effectively.

Beth Potter
If I could just jump in as well.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Yeah, sure, go ahead.

Beth Potter
There needs to be an onus of responsibility on the traveller as well to follow the rules, to respect the jurisdiction that you're visiting, whether it's your own community, the community next door, or another jurisdiction farther away. Continue to wear your mask, follow hand cleanliness and sanitization rules. Those are really important. And we have to put some of that responsibility onto the traveller to make sure they are following those rules to help mitigate any potential spread that could happen. Not on the plane, not in the car, not in the hotel room, but when they are mixing and mingling with other people.

Scott Beck
I think, Vanmala, we've been trying to socialize this idea that businesses don't transmit the virus; people do.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Yeah.

Scott Beck
And there's a personal code of conduct that is also one of the reasons why Canada has managed this so much better than some other countries. There is a personal responsibility ethos here that is part of what Canada is, and I think that helps us. But that is sort of absent from the messaging.

Ross Jefferson
You know, I think—and I would just add, quickly, to that—that when we were contemplating opening up the bubble, you know, our own individual provinces were locked down, and opening up the bubble to the four Atlantic provinces, there was a lot of resistance back then, that travel would cause the virus. And we've now been open since July 1st, and it's not. And I think the question really is, perhaps, in this context, who are you opening up to, in that particular case? But if you're opening up to a market that has the same per capita or number of active cases, you're not increasing your risk or your odds. And I think that's lost right now in all the numbers that are constantly being quoted in the media right now.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Okay. A couple of—sorry to just interrupt you—we're getting quite a few questions from the audience, so I just want to move on very quickly to one thing, I think, that everyone's interested in, which is, we have definitely seen a rise in the number of people choosing to travel locally because, surely, because they don't have a choice. And so, I wanted to ask you, Marsha, how, how much does that increase in local travel actually make up for the loss in international tourism? Does it even make up for the loss in international travel?

Marsha Walden
Well, there's a couple of things to think about. The domestic market, so within Canada, is incredibly important to the, to the leisure tourism side and the business traveller side. So, the ability to travel for a business meeting within our country is a huge contributor to overall revenue. So, if we think about the domestic marketplace versus the international, the domestic market actually is worth about twice as much as our international market in total. Now, that doesn't say that the individual traveller, normally an individual traveler from an international market has more value as a guest than a domestic traveller. They just spend more money; that's all there is to it. But the volume relative to the domestic traveller is, is significantly different. So, you know, for, for our industry to be able to support domestic travel is, is a great starting point to getting back on the road to recovery. But ultimately, the ability to open our international borders is the only thing that can take us over the line into a more profitable existence once again.

But, you know, there are some markets that are very valuable, like the US market, for instance. It, it's worth 10 times any other market that we have, from a leisure travel perspective. And so, that would be certainly the one that we, as an industry, primarily focus on. And, and many businesses are built on the backs of, of, you know, a very strong American client base, for instance, that are 100 percent devoted to international markets. So, I think for us, the key—it's very unlikely our international borders would open before our provincial ones do. So, I think for our industry, you know, really getting the opportunity to cultivate our domestic audience, having a national strategy around things like that, would be extremely helpful in the short term.

Vanmala Subramaniam
And, you know, you mentioned the US border, which was going to be my next question. Scott, maybe, maybe you could weigh in here, you know, how, how would we open the US border to travel in a prudent way, in a safe way, given what's going on there and the way they are handling the virus? Is there even a way to do that?

Scott Beck
Wow, I'm usually not one that shies away from tough subjects, so I'll jump in and have Beth rescue me if I get too far out. Contact tracing, rapid testing, being cognizant of, of the health and safety protocols that people are asked to do. And clearly, there has to be a change in the way the, the US is managing the virus. I mean, first and foremost, that's got to happen. But I think if, if you look at inspiration from other countries or other places, that again, there are ways to, to manage this, and there are ways to mitigate, you know, significant risk.

And, and I think, you know, starting, again, contact tracing, rapid testing protocols that Beth advocated for early on, which are—it is not, the province of Ontario isn’t any different than the province of British Columbia. That's going to be really important. There's a national strategy to do this. Because that's, that's where we're really going to have an impact. But I think it, it is something that is, is good, is vital. I mean, it's, it's, it's really important to our market to have that visitor. Not just because of, of what they bring, but because of what we are, as the North America's second-largest tech community, as North America's second largest financial centre. Those are things that require a dependence on the US market to keep those positions. So, it is also in our necessary for us to do that, as Marsha also indicated. But I think the way to do it—I mean, Beth, help me out here—is that it's, it's got to start with a national strategy. It's got to involve contact tracing, rapid testing, and, and a change in sort of the way we manage the quarantine requirements.

Beth Potter
Absolutely. Everything that we're seeing around the world, that's where they're making headway. You know, the, the rule of thumb seems to be right now, testing 72 hours ahead of time, and having that, that documentation with you, not only when you're leaving the country, but also on arrival and in the new country. And then to be able to, to be able to manage that data collection. So, there is a technology part of this that also needs to be managed, because we need to integrate, basically, you know, a health system of testing, with a travel system that crosses over platforms from one mode of transportation to another and, and through the, the border security agencies as well. So, there's a big technology issue that's behind this as well´ but in the interim, there's some easy, easy ways to get that testing and contact tracing in place.

Vanmala Subramaniam
I actually just wanna, I think quite a few people are curious about, you know, all of your thoughts on this. To what extent do you think the quarantine requirements of 14 days are really inhibiting people being able to come into this country? And I, and I am also referring to Canadian citizens abroad coming back, just for the upcoming Christmas season. Maybe talk to me about what we might see there, given the 14-day quarantine. Scott, do you want to go?

Scott Beck
Well, it's a big deterrent, clearly. So, I think the, the way I would address that is there's no alternative to travel. There's an inevitability of our recovery. I would like to start by saying there's an inevitability to our recovery. It really is going to recover. There, there is no alternative for travel. And so, that also is what makes this so hard right now, is face-to-face interaction for, you know, whatever that is, for a business interaction, for the education, for certification, for all those things is very, very important. And if you're going to want to go someplace for a business trip, and that one-day business trip becomes a 15-day experience, you're not going to travel. If that conference that you're attending to share best practices and learn from your peers, a three-day conference becomes a 17-day experience, that's not going to happen´ and, and that's where it is, is the biggest detriment. So, and, and shortening that through contact tracing and, and better testing, all those things that can shorten that quarantine time, would absolutely benefit our industry, would benefit that, that transfer of knowledge that is, again, inevitable in travel.

Beth Potter
Yeah, and it's there's a social component to it as well. People have been separated from their families from their loved ones for a long time. You know, I personally haven't seen my daughter since February. Do I want her to come home at Christmas? Absolutely. So, there's that, that need to connect with your family and loved ones. And so, people are going to start they're going to try and figure out a way around it. And we've already seen some, or heard some kind of anecdotally negative stories about, you know, people arriving, checking into hotels, and then not staying because they don't want to quarantine. If we can do the contact tracing and the testing we can eliminate that, and we can make everybody good citizens again.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Sorry, I'm muted this time. I, I actually just I, I've one, one more question left, and then we're getting a lot of audience questions, so I'm gonna move on to the Q&A from the audience. So, the one question I had—and, you know, maybe Ross you can start—is the, the government has been pumping in quite a bit of money, although definitely not sufficient, into the tourism industry, almost a billion dollars, to help travel and tourism-related businesses, in addition to, you know, the wage subsidy that directly helps businesses. So, I, I guess, I want to know, Ross, like what have you been hearing from, you know, local businesses, and how much that has helped them, and how much they need that to continue until, you know, we have a vaccine and, and things are completely back to normal?

Ross Jefferson
Yeah, absolutely. You know, there has been, obviously, tremendous supports that have been put in place that have helped across all industries. The wage subsidy, the rent subsidy, there's a number of programs that we're all familiar with, and they've helped all businesses. We've also seen significant help that's been given for specific industries. And I also want to point out that region-by-region, province-by-province, there are also very different responses. I think, you know, here in in our regions in Atlantic Canada, I don't know if they would agree with that statement that that the tourism industry, specifically, has had any, you know, major material supports. And again province-by-province, even within Atlantic Canada, there are there are different responses within that as well.

Look, we know that the, the tourism industry is, is the industry that was hit first, it's hit the hardest, and it will be the last to recover. And I think the industry also really understands that, although all of the measures required to try to flatten the curve are very directly aimed at this industry, we know it's not intentional. It is here to safeguard lives, and to safeguard other businesses. And let's, let's also, just for a moment, recognize there's a lot of wealth that is shifting around when this happens right now, there are a lot of winners happening right now, with very many industries, very many different businesses and companies that are doing exceedingly well as well as individuals. And then there are people in the industry, people working in this industry, that are bearing the significant cost. So, I think that, you know, as policy, that, you know, understanding that we've got to intentionally curb or, or punish, unintentionally, this industry, being able to have that support, I think, is incredibly important.

QUESTION & ANSWER

Vanmala Subramaniam
I, I'm gonna start moving on to audience questions. These aren't directed at anyone specifically, so, you know, anyone who wants to go ahead and answer, just pipe up. So, question from Rick Anderson: for those few bright spots where tourism has picked up, what are the effects CERB—CERB, the government policy—has had in bringing people back? And what are you hearing from operators at the second biggest concern, the first being revenue? Maybe we can start with the first part of that question, which is, how has CERB helped in kind of, you know, bringing people back to consuming and just helping the tourism industry? If anyone wants to weigh in here.

Beth Potter
Well, I'll just say, I mean, CERB obviously was a very, has been a very important program, and has helped to ensure that there is still a way for people to, you know, put food on the table, and to, you know, you know, pay bills. Is it the, is it the right answer going forward? I think that the Government of Canada is right now in the process of trying to, to look at what is the best solution for a longer run, simply because we don't know when this is going to end. Has it helped people get out and, and, you know, support their local restaurant? Absolutely, it has. So, it, there, it's definitely been a great program from, you know, from an industry that employs a lot of people, it's been very beneficial.

Vanmala Subramaniam
And, you know, Scott or Ross, you might be best equipped to answer this. What are you hearing from operators as their second biggest concern after revenue?

Scott Beck
Their ability to recover, based on staffing, and the availability of staffing. As you look at how hard, as Ross clearly articulated, it's hit the frontline workers in our industry, we will be the last to recover. And so, there is a real risk, knowing how difficult our industry was experiencing pre-COVID, in terms of unemployment rate and, and, and finding employees. I think that's what we're hearing from our industry, and where they're looking to a lot of leadership from the government to, to help protect the future workforce of our industry. Because once, once the revenue model is, is, is starting to come back, we will need the staff. That is so, so intrinsic to our industry. The, the front desk agent that checks you, in the bellman that greets you when you're at the hotel, the server that delivers your bottle of wine. That human element of our industry is vital to our success, and one of the reasons we're such a great industry. But I think that's what we're hearing is it, it is preservation of a future workforce, because we will be the last to recover.

Ross Jefferson
I'll just add one last comment, that I think, you know, relative to other countries, Canada has done a really great job. I think there's lots more that needs to be done, specifically, for the industry. And, you know, the speech from the Throne was encouraging, and I know there's lots of work still continuing.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Marsha, go ahead.

Marsha Walden
Yes, thank you, Vanmala I'd just like to, I think, put forward something that I know the Tourism Industry Association of Canada would have at the top of its list, and CERB certainly tries to address much of this, as do some of the other cost-reduction mechanisms that the federal government and, and provincial and territorial have put in place. But the number one issue that we hear from industry is the need for liquidity. And having the ability to access what industry is calling Patient Operating Capital is really, really critical for recovery. And you can imagine how difficult it would be as a businessperson to try to make a decision about taking on new debt, without knowing whether or not your ability to repay that debt will start to occur in 18 months, or four years, or five years. That's an extremely difficult decision for a business to make, because no one knows how long this piece of string really is. But the need for liquidity, and the need for that liquidity to be, be patient in outwaiting this virus, is what I'm hearing from industry is the number one thing that they need.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Interesting. Here's a very interesting question from Joe: what are your thoughts on governments introducing domestic tourism stimulus programs? So, I guess the idea being trying to incentivize people to travel locally by, you know, either a tax rebate or something like that. Beth, you're nodding. Do you have thoughts on this?

Beth Potter
Absolutely. We've actually put a proposal into the provincial government for a Travel Tax Credit at the provincial level, and we are supporting TIAC in an ask at the federal level for a Canadian Travel Tax Credit on domestic travel, to help encourage Canadians and Ontarians to get, you know, to spend their vacation dollars here at home. If we can reduce our—you know, we've always had a travel deficit of people leaving the country. And if we can capture some of that revenue back here at home when, you know, the Snowbirds can't cross the border, and, and people are not choosing to, to go elsewhere in the world for their vacations, then wouldn't that be—you know, we know we know that that would be helpful. And would actually, you know, we could almost recoup our losses, if we could get the, the domestic market to spend all of their vacation dollars here at home. So, a Travel Tax Credit, both at the provincial level and at the federal level, incredibly important.

Marsha Walden
Let me size that up for you for a moment—and thank you Beth for that. Canadians spend about 43 billion dollars-a-year traveling outside of Canada, going to sun destinations in the winter and Europe in the summer, et cetera. The amount of revenue that we acquire here for inbound travellers, so international visitors coming to see us in Canada, is 22 billion, so, about half. So ,the opportunity for us to get domestic travel stimulated in some way gives us at least a chance at acquiring some of that outbound money that would normally be spent somewhere else in the world. It's very unlikely that we could have a full substitution effect. But even if we could get 25 percent, capture 25 percent of that outbound revenue, it would be a huge boost to our industry.

Vanmala Subramaniam
That's, that's, thanks for that, Marsha. The next question, I think, is quite important and relevant. It's from Vicky. And, you know, any one of you can weigh in, here. How can travellers find what the rules are for the destination that they are traveling to? This information is not easy to find. Can anyone on the panel make suggestions? I actually, personally, totally agree with Vicky, here.

Beth Potter
So, we're working on that. And as an industry, we have been working collaboratively to develop protocols by which businesses are operating to ensure, you know, a health and safety environment for consumers. And they're working very closely with, we've, you know, we've worked very closely with the Workplace Safety and Prevention Services Organization here in Ontario, with our Ministry of Health, and of course with the public health authorities. And then to help educate the consumer on where they can go, we have been designated by WTTC to administer a Safe Travel Stamp here in Canada. And so, destinations and businesses, we're just in the process of getting people on board with this program, but they will be able to search the Safe Travel Stamp, they will be able to see it on a business's website, they'll be able to search, you know, businesses that have the Safe Travel Stamp with us. And destinations like Toronto, and others across the province, and now starting across the country, are starting to also use the stamp to denote to travellers that they are a safe destination.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Okay, thanks. Scott. Yep.

Scott Beck
I would expect, you know, if you look at organizations like ours—and this is not meant as a, as a, you know, as an advertisement—but if you go to DestinationToronto.com, and I would say that a large portion of our industry is doing this, there's a COVID banner that pops up immediately, and there's a hyperlinked text there that you can get to the, to the, to the sort of the Toronto Public Health information about how to travel. But I think one of the things that I've always tried to tell people is, look at that point of your travel that's sort of the most impactful. So, if you're staying overnight in a hotel, start with the hotel. And every hotel is going to pretty much have the same thing. And that's a really important place to start. And then you look at your modes of transportation. And the hard part about one central part is, both the great thing about our industry and the difficult part about our industry in times like this is, we are small businesses. And we are a, a, you know, a patchwork of an incredibly interconnected sort of environment. And so, I think look at those major points: airline, hotel, transportation, and then also, the destination website, in large measure, will have sort of that public health from a city perspective or regional perspective, that's very helpful. But, you know, having just travelled recently, staying at a hotel in Ottawa, I checked the site, I knew I was going to have to have my temperature checked when I walked in, I knew what the protocols were for dining, what was available, what wasn't available, how I had to sort of manage my own personal responsibility when I was a guest of the hotel. All of that stuff was very, very easily articulated on, at the hotel level.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Scott, actually, another question for you, since I have you on unmute, is, Michael is asking: how does Scott see things reopening next year? First hotels, followed by restaurants, followed by other attractions? Do you have any thoughts on this?

Scott Beck
I would first and foremost like to reset the question. We're open. I, I would just—the other thing I would want to say is we are struggling with this messaging that somehow it's about a when. It's not about when; it's about how. So, we're open. A large portion of our hotels have been open through the entire pandemic—now, there's been no guests in the hotels.

So, I think it's gonna start, really, how it started immediately after we went into Stage Three. It's gonna start hyper-local. And all of those services in our industry that have a hyper-local audience: restaurants, attractions, the zoos, the aquariums; those things that our locals do just as much as visitors do. And then as we start to grow the potential pool of visitors again, inter-provincial, inter-provisional, national, then that audience grows. And so, then hotels become more important, or see more traffic, airlines see more traffic. But, you know, the fact of the matter is: we've been open. We just need to communicate, find better ways to communicate how to engage in our industry. Because we are open for business, and we want to welcome people to come to Ontario. We want to welcome people, you know, to come in our door. So, it's more about how than when. And I think it's going to start where the hyper-local has the highest sort of impact in our, in our, in our businesses.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Okay, thanks for that, Scott. Ross, maybe I can have you answer this. A question from Leslie: what new innovations have you seen in the sectors as a result of adapting to COVID, and what things will stay post-COVID?

Ross Jefferson
Oh, wow, yeah. What a great question. Look, I think there's been a ton of innovations at every business level on how people interact with customers, how they take orders, you know. So, I think, you know, that's all around us. I really love the question about, you know, what's going to change in the future. And I think that there will be things that change in the future. But I think we also might be overstating, in some cases, the change in the future as well. So, you know, I think the, the, the—there's, there's a lot of theories out there that this is, you know, this will be the end of tourism or certainly fundamentally change tourism. And while I think it's going to be a long time for us to get to full recovery—a lot of consensus on that—the fundamentals behind travel are rock solid.

I mean, just take, take one point alone: in humankind's history, up until last year, a majority of the world's population was considered to be in poverty. And while that's not well known, that changed last year, and there's more disposable income, more people wanting to travel. And the second point, you know, Millennials just outpaced Baby Boomers as the largest demographic cohort. You know, the fundamentals behind the market are there.

I think we're gonna see some interesting things, though, you know. Let's take business travel as an example. We see a lot of people now, perhaps not returning to the office for work. And so, mobility of work in Canada might be really interesting, if we've got people dispersed in companies across the country. Well, those people need to come back together at certain points to work as teams. So, we might see pockets of markets that really fundamentally shift, like business travel, in the future. You know, it's, it's going to be fascinating to see. And I know it's going to be a long time before we're back to full recovery, but we will be back to full recovery, and more.

Vanmala Subramaniam
Okay, thank you so much, Ross. I think we've run out of time, and this is probably a good place to end. So, I just want to thank you all so much. I thought it was a really fruitful, very interesting discussion.

Note of Appreciation and Concluding Remarks by Antoinette Tummillo
Thank you. Thank you, Vanmala, and thank you, Ross, Scott, Marsha, and Beth. I'm sure I, like many in our audience, are looking forward to a lot of the things you're talking about, you know, making us more comfortable with travel. I know I, personally, I am missing travelling. And, you know, all these ideas around incentives and, you know, the Safe Travel Stamp, and, you know, the rapid-testing and the contact tracing, you know, happening in a very, you know, in a way that we're all comfortable with—because all of this right now is very complicated for everybody. And, you know, some interesting conversations around how the work is transforming. And I think the more you can help us all to get that messaging out there, so that we really are clear, the better. So, I really appreciate you taking the time to be here today. And we're looking forward to hearing lots more positive news, and we're looking forward to being able to travel to the Eastern Bubble soon, and making Toronto a place where people aren't afraid to go to, because our numbers are rising. So anyways, thanks again. And Vanmala, thanks, you did a terrific job with moderating this panel. We at the Empire Club are working very hard on bringing very important topics to you. And I urge you to, you know, watch for the emails that'll be coming over the next few weeks, where we'll be announcing some of our events. I now call this meeting to a close. Thank you all.