Businesses in the Maritimes are trying to prepare for the tourism season ahead, but there is only so much they can do.
“It looks like the season will be as bleak as it is today, I think,” Ron Cormier, owner and operator of Shediac Bay Cruises, told Global News on a windy Friday with lots of rain.
The company typically employs around 10,000 to 11,000 people per year. But last year the numbers were down 80 percent, says Cormier.
“One third of our business is international tourism [come from] Repentance, ”he says.
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They had to reduce their summer student positions from 10 to about three.
Maritime companies are getting ready for a second summer without cruise ship tourists
“And that’s a shame,” he says. “These students have student loans and we want to give them as much work as possible, but our hands are tied.”
The New Brunswick Tourism Association says the Atlantic Bubble, along with the Explore NB discount program, gave operators a boost over the past year.
Hoping to travel has eased travel restrictions when it is safe to do so, but federal wage subsidies to eligible businesses will be another key to ensuring they make it through.
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Carol Alderdice, the executive director, says the subsidy will shrink in July.
“We absolutely need the wage subsidy to continue at 75 percent for the most severely affected and even through the end of the year,” says Alderdice. “If that doesn’t happen, I’m really very concerned about a lot of our operators.”
Only a handful of its 435 members had to close permanently, she says.
And some outdoor companies like golf and snowmobile companies have done “pretty well”.
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But with the lack of festivals, groupings, and sports, the hospitality sector has not.
“Those are the ones who have suffered the most,” she says, “definitely the hardest hit.”
New Brunswick offers $ 3 million discounts to residents who stay in the province
In Halifax, Ambassatours Gray Line is responsible for the maintenance of cruise ships. It operates several sightseeing boats such as the Tall Ship Silva and the Harbor Hopper.
They also adapt spontaneously.
“The crystal ball doesn’t work that well,” said Dennis Campbell, CEO of Ambassatours, in an interview. “A week or two ago we thought we were going with Plan A. Now we’re actually on Plan C.”
He says this is directly related to that again shifted Atlantic bubble. The Prime Minister said talks will be suspended until “the risk of further outbreaks has been reduced based on advice from the area’s Chief Medical Officers of Health.”
Many companies are hoping the bubble can be re-inflated soon, and are even hoping that the provincial borders can open to the rest of the country sometime this summer, if it is safe.
“We just hope and pray that we can see some light at the end of the tunnel,” says Cormier.
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