Tourism survey shows outlook optimistic

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on May 10, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Tourism Industry Association of Alberta and Travel Alberta partnered up to ask a variety of businesses about their state of affairs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through a first-of-its-kind online survey businesses were polled on the current state of the industry covering viability, outlook, recruitment, finances and losses.
It is worth noting that the survey took place earlier in the year prior to governments loosening restrictions and travel requirements. In addition, inflation was not at current levels during the survey period.
Board Advisor for the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta, Darren Reeder, said what they wanted to do is gauge the relative health of the industry, how people have been fairing with access to government support programs, how they are doing on the staffing front and other operational considerations, and what their view of 2022 would look like assuming that as restrictions begin to relax the international market will start to come back and they will see visitors in the summer.
“That was really the premise of the survey, to gauge real time how we are doing as an industry and our thoughts were in regards of summer 2022,” said Reeder.
He said they are hoping to do another assessment probably just before summer because they are trying to do two surveys per year.
“One is sort of an annual outlook, whether it is COVID or not, just to give an annual outlook of what operators think is possible. But our key earning season for most tourism operators is May through to the end of September,” said Reeder.
He said that now that they are at the doorstep of that period, they would like to conduct another survey closer to the peak to ask people what their thoughts are at that point and how things are going.
“When we conducted the survey back in February, when we tabulated the results 59 per cent of the survey respondents were feeling quite optimistic about the business outlook for 2022,” said Reeder.
He said that was an increase from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they believe at that point it was at a two-year high.
In terms of the return to normal Reeder said 63 per cent of the people surveyed said it would take them approximately between one and three years or more to get back to normal.
“Sports and recreation facilities were among those that said that was going to take the longest time to get back to normal,” said Reeder.
He said one of the biggest issues going forward trying to stabilize the industry is labour.
“We lost a considerable portion of our labour force during COVID, many of whom were foreign nationals who went back to their home country or they were Canadians that decided not to continue in this industry,” said Reeder.
While many businesses are currently operating with just under two-thirds of pre-pandemic staffing levels, the food and beverage sector has been hit the hardest according to the survey.
Reed said they heard from 43 per cent of those surveyed that they were suffering from a shortage of qualified recruits, the reluctance of former employees to return to the sector and the impact of government subsidies.
He added that debt has also played a significant role in the survey responses.
“A lot of businesses in the tourism industry, because so much of the business has been shut down through restrictions, businesses have taken on considerable amount of debt,” said Reeder.
The survey shows that around half of businesses have taken on COVID-related debt, with one-third of them increasing by more than half from 2019 numbers. Most believe that they will be able to pay off their debt, with about one in five are unsure about how they will service their debt. Other concerns included supply chain issues and insurance premiums.
The survey results can be accessed at https://www.tiaalberta.ca/cpages/news

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