C-19 BULLETIN - April 26, 2021

Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant Expanded to Include Other Tourism & Hospitality Sub-sectors

This afternoon, government announced they are adding $75 million to the Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant, bringing the amount available for hard-hit BC businesses to over $125 million. Read more here

The grant remains open to bars, pubs, restaurants, breweries, wineries, gyms, and fitness facilities impacted by the March 31st provincial health officer's orders. The orders remain in place until May 25.

The grant is now also open to hotels, motels, and other short-term accommodations impacted by the April 23rd emergency order to restrict travel between BC's regional zones.

With the increased funding, eligible businesses will receive up to $20,000 (double the original grant amount) to help with expenses like employee wages, rent, maintenance, and utilities. The individual amount a business received will be based on the number of employees.

Businesses that previously applied for or received the Circuit Breaker Business Relief Grant that opened on April 12th do not need to apply again. They will automatically receive the additional funding.

It is critical that you apply now, if you haven't already. Applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, and applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications will be accepted until June 4th, or when the funds are disbursed.

Learn more and apply at:

Since the tourism and hospitality industry was informed of the impending travel restrictions, along with the reference to the Circuit Breaker Program extension in the Province's budget announced last week, TIABC, BCHA, ABLE BC and several other sector partners had been actively speaking with government to provide relief and support to the industry.

TIABC earlier today sent a note to Minister Kahlon and his team to thank them for their quick and welcome response, and for recognizing the measures needed to help tourism and hospitality businesses weather the next five weeks.
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In Case You Missed It...

CEO Message

Premier Thanks TIABC & Industry

This morning (Friday) Premier Horgan called me to thank TIABC and the industry for its leadership role and cooperation with the Province on the latest orders affecting travel.

The Premier acknowledged that the tourism and hospitality sector has been the most challenged and hardest hit over the course of the pandemic and understood that more government support was needed. He also noted that asking the sector to make further concessions (i.e. cooperate with the new travel order) was extremely difficult for tourism and hospitality businesses but also necessary in order to influence the tipping point between a reduction in COVID transmissions and the increase in immunizations.

Premier Horgan recognized the importance of the visitor economy to the province and said that the order was made with some reluctance given that British Columbia is built to invite people in and not shut people out.

He remains very hopeful that come summer, we can again begin to make plans for things like festivals and events, noting it will take some time for people to feel comfortable traveling again or gathering in larger groups.

I took the opportunity to thank Premier Horgan for working with the industry in advance of the travel order, as well as for the recent budget considerations. At the same time, I also reiterated the need for further government support in view of the restrictions, and to assist businesses that have not yet received any relief.

I appreciated the personal call from the Premier who committed to staying in touch over the next weeks and months to help industry work through its challenges.

Walt Judas
TIABC CEO

...read the rest of Walt's CEO message here
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In Case you Missed it....

Toolkit Contents
April 23-May 25 Travel Restrictions

A toolkit has been developed with a number of sections designed to help tourism operators navigate the current travel restrictions in place in BC.

It includes:
  • Key Messages
  • Recommended Actions for Operators
  • Questions and Answers

Download toolkit here
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Tourism in the News

Last Friday, Walt joined CTV National News to discuss BC's latest travel restrictions
View interview here


Tourism Revelstoke's Megan Tabor discussed what BC Travel restrictions announced on April 23rd means for local tourism sector operators with the Revelstoke Mountaineer.
View interview here


BC’s tourism sector welcomes provincial funding, hopes to weather travel restrictions
Ian MacPhee works for Vancouver Island’s Prince of Whales Whale Watching and is also a director with the Tourism Industry Association of B.C. (TIABC). He says the pandemic’s impacts have been nothing short of catastrophic. “We continue to be absolutely devastated,” MacPhee said. “The hotels are at virtually no capacity, 10, 20 percent, I can tell you that as a whale watcher, our summer bookings are pretty much non-existent, still, whereas normally, we’d have tens of thousands of people prepared to go out and enjoy that activity.” 
Read more here

Tourism-based businesses scraping by first weekend of BC's new travel restrictions
The Good Karma Cafe in Horseshoe Bay and Home Restaurant in Hope are two popular pit stops reporting a big drop in business after new provincial travel restrictions.
Read more here

BC tourism sector hunkers down as out-of-region visitors told to stay away
Despite COVID-19 protocols that take 21 pages to list online, St. Eugene RV Park in the East Kootenays has shut down its sprawling facility to anyone but locals and cancelled 130 of 150 bookings through the May long weekend.
Read more here
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BSAFE - BC Safety Assured For Everyone

BSAFE (Safety Assured For Everyone) is a new health and safety course created by go2HR with the support of industry on the recommendation of British Columbia’s Tourism Task Force.

BSAFE is a 90-minute, online course oriented toward staff in BC’s tourism and hospitality industry. The training aims to provide staff with a strong foundation in COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and to assist them in understanding ever-evolving best practices. Upon successful completion of the course, participants are awarded a certificate that demonstrates their knowledge of and commitment to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. The objective is for BSAFE to become an industry standard: a recognizable indicator of the extent to which health and safety is a priority for BC’s tourism and hospitality employers. Our tagline, Your Trust, Our Priority is our goal as we work to rebuild our industry. Supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, BSAFE aims to build community and staff confidence in the health and safety protocols of BC’s tourism and hospitality industry as the province navigates and emerges from the COVID-19 era.

Learn more here
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TransLink has launched Phase 2 engagement for Transport 2050 and they want to hear from you!
As part of Phase 2 engagement, Translink wants to hear directly from community and business leaders from across the region.

Three upcoming stakeholder meetings are being offered.

Tuesday, April 27th - 1:00pm to 3:00pm Register
Tuesday, May 4th - 6:00pm to 8:00 pm Register
Thursday, May 6th - 10:00am to 12noon Register

Other ways you can participate in Phase 2 Engagement:

If you are unable to attend a stakeholder meeting, there are a number of ways that you and your communities can get involved.

Until May 14, visit transport2050.ca to read the discussion guide or backgrounders:
Be sure to complete the survey and register for an online open house as well.

You can also send an email at transport2050@translink.ca with any feedback you may have.

Read more here
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Tell Us Your Story

Bear’s Eatery & Pie Factory is a small 45-seat restaurant located in Kimberley, BC. We have been operating as a classic diner since February 12, 2011 (just over 10 years). My husband Barry “Bear” Pearce & I, Janet “JJ” Johanson are owner operators. Over our 10 years in business, we have had up to 4 part time employees, plus ourselves at one time. On March 21, 2020, we laid off our employees due to COVID. Bear & I kept the restaurant running ourselves and moving our product take out. 

Kimberley is a resort town with skiing in the winter and world class golfing in the summer. Almost every weekend throughout the year there is a festival going on. Be it Flannelfest in February or Julyfest in July. Our customers come from all over the area and the world! We have served people all the way from Dubai and Ireland. We also have an extraordinarily strong community base. Bear’s Eatery & Pie Factory is a classic diner and our customers ranged from young adults and families to seniors. 

Our year ends are on August 31. In 2019 our revenue was 150,483. In 2020 our revenue dropped to $132,849. From September 2020 to today April 7, 2021 our revenue is only $50,617 putting us on track to come in under $100,000 this year. A drop of over 35% since the start of COVID. 

With travel restrictions in place and government bodies strongly encouraging people not to travel to BC, it has affected our community and our restaurant dramatically. We have had to totally reinvent ourselves, doing more frozen take n’ bake options, on-line ordering and Farmer’s Markets through the summer. Hoping to just survive. 

Obviously, these government shutdowns have affected so many restaurants along with many other small businesses. Our revenue is way down, however, ALL the bills still come in at 100%. We still must have our bi-annual inspections, hood cleaning, licenses, insurance etc. PLUS the expense to flip to take out from dine in is huge. Containers, packaged condiments etc. Not to mention plexigass partitions, sanitization expenses. They just expect an industry already with very slim profit margins to pick up the tab AND continue to pay the bills. If they want to help, help with some bill payment relief. I do not understand why this industry has been targeted.

Show me the proof that restaurants are the main cause of COVID transmissions. From what I’ve seen, small businesses are much better equipped to handle the sanitization of their establishment better than the big box stores. 
This location has been a restaurant in Kimberley for 53 years. Bear’s Eatery has been a part of the Kimberley community since 2011. We have sponsored many local charities, service clubs as well as our local Dynamiter hockey team. We cater to our special needs and we offer home cooked meals that many of our seniors depend on. We pay our taxes, just like everyone else. We have put everything we have into our business. It would be heartbreaking to lose it all due to NO FAULT of our own. 

COVID has taken its toll on many people, including our customers. We have been stressed to the nines worrying that this could be the end of us. Even though we own our building, we would be hard pressed to sell a restaurant for its full value during these times. The shutdowns have also affected market value for restaurants. We may all be in the same storm, but our boats are quite different. Government officials are on a cruise ship and we’re on dinghy’s with holes. Trying very hard to stay positive, but we are now in our early 60’s and feeling very scared that our retirement will be nonexistent. Feeling very, very scared.

Read other submissions on our website: www.tiabc.ca/tell-us-your-story
We encourage you to write your story using the format outlined on our website. Be as candid as you feel comfortable. By telling your story, you give us permission to share the information with government. We may also call on you to tell your story through social and/or traditional media channels, as well as via industry communiques.

Please send your (maximum 2-page) summary to info@tiabc.ca.

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Moments of Levity

As an industry that continues to face enormous challenges during COVID-19, every once in a while it's important to share a laugh, a good story, a beautiful image, or an interesting anecdote to provide moments of levity during this most difficult time. Feel free to share your photos, etc. with TIABC to be published in our C-19 Bulletin each week.
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TIABC CEO, Walt Judas and BCHA President & CEO, Ingrid Jarrett will discuss the state of the hospitality and tourism industry and provide an update on advocacy efforts.
 
The webinar will be 45 minutes in length with a 15 minute open forum for questions.
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Navigating, Recruiting, and Hiring of International Workers in the Age of COVID-19

Wednesday May 5th 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (PDT)

Bewildered by the complexities of immigration processes for hiring foreign workers in the age of COVID-19? We’ve got the answers and expert advice you need. Please join the Vancouver Coast & Mountains Tourism Region, managed by Destination BC, and go2HR for an engaging and informative session on Navigating the New Normal When Hiring International Workers in the age of COVID-19.

What You’ll Learn:
  • An overview and updates on requirements for federal and provincial immigration programs
  • Overview of how the requirements may impact tourism and hospitality employers as they prepare to recruit internationally
  • Practical tips, insights and resources to help navigate international recruitment processes

For more information, and to register, please visit the event page.
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Feel free to send us your ideas on what information would be valuable for TIABC to share through our COVID-19 Bulletin going forward. Drop us a line at info@tiabc.ca.