THUNDER BAY — The head of Ontario's biggest tourist lodge-based marketing association says some operators in the northwestern part of the province are at risk of going out of business without direct government compensation for their losses.
Gerry Cariou, executive director of Kenora-based Sunset Country Travel Association, said travel restrictions connected to the COVID-19 pandemic have been "devastating" to the industry.
In an interview Monday, he said operators typically earn half their annual revenue in the months of May and June, and that income has now been lost for 2020.
Late last week, the province announced it would allow short-term rentals including lodges, cabins, cottages and B&Bs to resume as of June 5.
Cariou said it is "a good thing" that the province did that. "They had to do their part, they had to open up" he said, but the continuing closure of the international border leaves operators with no access to their clients in the U.S., by far their biggest market.
"For a lodge to pivot from 100 per cent American to Canadian (clientele) on such short notice, it's virtually impossible to make any dent in their deficit," Cariou said.
He said operators spent a lot of money marketing to US residents, and were poised to have an excellent season.
Cariou said the prospect of attracting business from Manitoba is remote because that province requires its residents to self-isolate for 14 days if they have travelled outside Manitoba, and the market in northwestern Ontario is too small to do anything beyond perhaps helping a lodge pay its hydro bill.
Noting that the incidence of COVID-19 here is relatively low, he said he hopes Canada and the U.S. will consider reopening the border after June 21, but is not optimistic.
Surveys show that the majority of Canadians want the border to be kept closed.
Cariou said that creates "a definite risk that there will be a trend toward insolvency" by a portion of area lodge operators without more assistance from governments.
"A $40,000 loan from the feds is not helpful, especially when you have zero revenues, or few revenues from Canadians, coming in," he said.
Helping lodges won't just prevent lodge owners from avoiding a crisis, Cariou said, as the industry is also an important contributor to northwestern Ontario's economy as a whole.
It brings in significant dollars from out of the country and results in purchases from a wide variety of local suppliers.
"It's foreign money. It's an export economy. It's a basic industry, meaning it brings in dollars. The spinoffs of that type of money versus recirculating Canadian money, would, I would say, three to one or five to one in terms of the multiplier effect," he suggested.
Canada has been effective in controlling COVID-19, but is also effectively destroying the tourism economy, Cariou said.
"They need compensation, not loans."
In his announcement, Rickford said the provincial government has "heard the concerns of tourism operators" and recognizes they play a critical role in northwestern Ontario's economy.
Rickford told reporters "We just wanted to get them open. Now we can move on to thinking about and acting on business supports," but added "it's still going to be a difficult summer."
He said he's skeptical that the border will be opened this month.
"There's a lot of challenges left out there. It's not in my jurisdiction or authority...but it's my sense there's a very real prospect that Americans will not be permitted for a good chunk of the summer. I wanna manage expectations."
Rickford said he consults regularly with municipal and Indigenous leaders, and to this point "All of them have said, as painful as it is 'No, the border shouldn't be opened.'"
