C-19 BULLETIN - January 13, 2021

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Air Canada Suspends BC Routes

The negative impacts of COVID-19 on Air Canada’s operations have been unprecedented and almost a year after this pandemic started Air Canada is still carrying less than 8% of its normal passenger volumes due to factors beyond their control and with no horizon for recovery.
 
Air Canada has found it increasingly difficult to continue to operate in this challenging environment, without specific financial support from governments, the continued prohibition on foreign nationals and mandatory quarantine for all passengers entering the country, a continued border closure between Canada and the United States, the repeated recommendations discouraging domestic travel and the recent implementation of a pre-boarding testing requirement. This situation, however, is no longer sustainable and requires the airline to make difficult decisions on capacity allocation on a go-forward basis.
 
For BC, Air Canada has made the difficult decision to suspend routes which in some cases means the closure of the station.
 
  • Prince Rupert-Vancouver
  • Kamloops-Vancouver
 
In the cases of Kamloops and Prince Rupert it will mean the closure, until further notice, of all our operations at these airports. In addition, the current closures in Sandspit, Penticton and Comox will continue.
 
Other domestic routes suspended will be Vancouver-Ottawa and Victoria-Calgary.

Read the full media release here.
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TIAC Update

Federal Advocacy Update
TIAC’s Acting CEO continues advocacy outreach and is actively working on a revised tourism recovery document to present to Government.
 
TIAC met with the Senior Policy Advisor in the office of the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages to discuss support needed for the sector.

At the end of December, Conservative MP and Special Advisor to the Leader on Tourism Recovery, Tony Baldinelli, has sponsored an electronic petition that calls upon the Government of Canada to present a tourism recovery plan on or before the 2021 federal budget. 
The deadline to sign is February 7th at 2 pm PST. You can access the e-petition here.

Destination Canada Survey
Destination Canada has launched a new survey to better understand how to improve COVID-19 research reports and what research stakeholders find valuable as we move forward.

Canada U.S. Border Closure
The Canada-U.S land border closure is to remain closed until at least February 21st.

COVID-19 Vaccine Update
The federal government has signed for another 20M doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This brings the total to 80M doses by the end of 2021, enough to vaccinate the entire Canadian population with the two doses required for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna products.
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GOABC Seeks Flexibility in Grant Eligibility

On January 11th, the Guide Outfitters Association of BC (GOABC) wrote to Hon. Melanie Mark regarding the Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant Eligibility.

While grateful for changes made to the program in recent weeks that allow more tourism operators to access the grants, most outfitting businesses are still unable to qualify.

The biggest barrier to qualification for the grant is the requirement that “the business experienced revenue losses compared to the same period in 2019 of: 
  • At least 70% at some point during March or April 2020 and 
  • At least 30% at some point during May 2020 to present.” 

The outfitting business model is seasonal and most BC operators have very specific windows within which to generate their annual revenue, typical of many tourism businesses. GOABC is requesting that a more flexible method of demonstrating a significant COVID-related drop in revenue be allowed.
 
Read the full letter here

NOTE - In communication with government today, TIABC has been given direction to encourage operators to continue with the application process (in spite of criteria barriers) and the Ministry will follow-up with businesses directly to address specific concerns and provide further guidance.
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Deadline Friday - Transport Canada – Proposal Feedback Required: 
Important for Marinas, Lodges & Tourism Operators That Rent Boats

Submitted by the Sport Fishing Institute:

In Canada, a Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) has been in existence for recreational boaters for nearly 20 years. While recreational boaters are encouraged to acquire the PCOC should they own a pleasure craft or plan to go boating, many are unaware of the requirement or are from locations where the PCOC is unavailable. PCOCs are currently acquired by written exam and do not have a practical instruction component.

For those that would like to rent or operate a pleasure craft provided by a business, an alternative to the PCOC was developed and approved by Transport Canada known as the Rental Boat Safety Checklist (RBSC). This checklist is intended to be paired with hands-on orientation at the dock. The RBSC has been used effectively by boat rental agencies, marinas and by lodge operations that offer unguided boat options right across Canada since its creation shortly after the PCOC program was initiated.

This is an important tool for businesses and operators that may welcome guests from around the world but also to ensure the safety of guests and care of the boats provided for customer use.

Review of the PCOC program is likely warranted due to an increase in interest and diversity of boating activity and new boater participation. However, rather than repealing the RBSC, proposals should describe a process to formalize the RBSC and associated orientation to be a requirement. An RBSC and orientation would serve as an additional safety measure for rental agencies and any business that makes boats available to the public, regardless if there is a PCOC in possession or not.

If you are involved in boating or the boating industry and can comment on the impacts these proposed changes would have to boating in BC, visit the Let’s Talk Transportation site to provide feedback until January 15th.

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Interior Health's Latest on COVID-19 Community Cluster
19 New Cases at Big White
 
Interior Health has linked 19 new cases to the COVID-19 Community Cluster at Big White Mountain. In its press release, Interior Health states a total of 162 positive cases have been linked to the cluster since mid-November, with 133 individuals recovered. There are 29 active cases isolating off or on-mountain.
 
Interior Health classifies a positive case as linked to the Big White cluster if the individual states they have visited the mountain in the past 14 days. 
 
 
"We are devastated to hear these latest numbers," says Michael J. Ballingall, Senior Vice President at Big White Ski Resort Ltd. "It’s like a rollercoaster. Our emotions were up last week because we only had six new cases, and we had bent the curve and saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, we have been told, through both testing on and off mountain, that an additional 19 cases have been linked to our community. To our knowledge, these are young people, who are not experiencing serious symptoms and we are thankful there has still not been a transmission in the workplace at the resort.”
 
Interior Health continues to reiterate that it is safe to ski and snowboard at Big White Ski Resort, given you follow the COVID-19 protocols in place. Those include: skiing or riding in your household bubble, wearing a mask, washing your hands, and avoiding social gatherings. 
 
“The risk remains low for families and individuals visiting Big White Mountain who follow public health guidance. In other words, it is safe to go to Big White when you stick to your immediate household
bubble and avoid socializing and gathering, etc,” the release states.
 
The next update from Interior Health will be on Friday, January 15. Interior Health will continue to do outreach testing on mountain January 14 and January 21 from 1pm to 6pm for symptomatic individuals, as well as conduct environmental public health inspections. The resort wishes all those affected by COVID-19 a speedy recovery and asks all visitors to adhere to the Safety Plan.
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Future Borders Coalition

In the January 2021 edition of the Smart Borders Newsletter, the Future Borders Coalition (of which TIABC is a member) focuses on the latest developments surrounding COVID-19 vaccination and the challenges ahead for a safe reopening of the Canada-U.S. border. In addition, they review the main outcomes of the webinar on testing and vaccination for safe air travel resumption that took place on December 8th, 2020. As well, they feature the Maritime Task Force, one of the four Task Forces under the Border Recovery Working Group.
Read the full newsletter here
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Indigenous Tourism Canada Update

In an effort to further support Canadian Indigenous tourism businesses from the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC) is waiving its annual $99 membership fee in 2021-2022 for Indigenous-owned tourism businesses and Indigenous led tourism organizations. ITAC is also waiving its annual $199 Marketing Upgrade fee for members who are export-ready and meet all the eligibility requirements.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have significant negative impacts on the Indigenous tourism industry, it is imperative that Indigenous communities, businesses and the Indigenous tourism industry remain united. With international borders still closed and health units across the country limiting domestic travel to prevent further spread of COVID-19, the Indigenous tourism industry has been especially affected and ITAC wants to provide as much savings to Indigenous tourism businesses as possible.
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BC Reinvention Awards 2021
Nominations Close January 15th

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Scale-up Centre for SMEs (SCS) is pleased to announce the 2021 Business Reinvention Awards.

The purpose of these new awards is to recognize businesses who have reinvented, adapted, and shown resiliency in the face of all challenges and barriers in 2020.

Eligibility Criteria:
  • Nominees must be based in Greater Vancouver
  • Nominees must be SMEs with no more than 250 employees.
  • Nominations are open to GVBOT Members and Non-members.
  • Nominators may submit nominations for more than one business.
  • Self-nominations are accepted.
  • A business may be a finalist in more than one category, however, they are limited to winning one category only.
  • Nominations are due on Friday, January 15th.

Award Categories:
  • Reinvention Award
  • Excellence in Collaboration Award
  • Healthy Workplace Award
  • Environmental Leader Award
  • Domestic Growth Award

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Mark Your Calendars
BC Tourism & Hospitality Conference

TIABC and the BC Hotel Association will be co-hosting the BC Tourism & Hospitality Conference (virtually) during the week of March 8th to 12th, 2021.

Stay tuned for more details soon.
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Destination BC Webinars

Virginie De Visscher, Senior Director of business development, Economic Sectors, will share details on the economic sector tactical plans and Jennifer Attersall, Director, Incentive Travel, will provide a deep dive on Destination Canada's incentive market plans.

Marketing Manager, Nancy Steward, will join both webinars to share the marketing plans, including partner co-investment opportunities. These webinars will include details on planned sales activations, how to use partner toolkits, strategic partnerships, and how the Destination Canada Business Events team will be working with Canadian partners to keep Canada top-of-mind within our audience.
Each webinar will include a presentation and ample time to answer your questions.

Economic Sector Canadian Partner Webinar
January 18th 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM (PST)

Incentive Canadian Partner Webinar
January 19th 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM (PST)

For more information and to register, click here
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What It Takes to Restart Canada’s Tourism Workforce

Tourism HR Canada has been tracking the impacts of COVID on the tourism workforce, and the fallout on GDP and consumer confidence. Other research in collaboration with the Conference Board focuses on labour projections: by sector, by region, and more. Tourism is facing staggering employment losses that far exceed the overall economy, and projections suggest these losses will hamper the sector's ability to rebound and recover from COVID.

Join Tourism HR Canada for the most up-to-date data on workforce trends, what to anticipate for labour challenges over the next year, and recommendations on policies and programs to help the sector restart its workforce. The session will be one hour in duration.

January 15th @ 11:00 AM (PST)

 
To see the last ‘state of the workforce’ update (September 2020), visit: tourismhr.ca/2020/09
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Join the BC Hotel Association for their upcoming webinar with FRESCo and learn about free energy efficiency upgrades, free energy assessments, engineering support, and rebates available!

FRESCo offers a free Fortis BC Program and is now available for hotels. The program will help you improve your overall energy efficiency, save money, save resources, and maximize your return on investments.

Tuesday, January 19th at 1:00pm PST

Hosted by Jordan Fisher, President of FRESCo Building Efficiency B.Sc., LEED® AP, RPP, MCIP
This webinar will be 45 minutes in length with 15 minutes Q&A.
Register here
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Online Training for Businesses

The Building Resilience to Thrive online training program will offer relief to businesses and help mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19.

The Building Resilience to Thrive online training program will offer relief to businesses and help mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by teaching them how to adapt their business models, re-engage their customers and adjust their workplace cultures. Developed in partnership with the University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business, this program will have one hour seminars once per week for 6 weeks and will be offered three times until the end of March 2021.

Program curriculum will focus on the three key themes of Strive, Build, and Create.
Seminar topics will be:
  1. Power of Context – Unconscious Bias
  2. Emotional Intelligence
  3. The Power of Coaching in Business
  4. Hire and manage a diverse team
  5. Improve experiences for colleagues and customers
  6. Adapt your service strategy for better outcomes

The final program will be offered on the following date:
Wednesdays at 11am-12pm PST, February 24th to March 31st

Registration for Cohort 3 closes on February 18th at 4pm
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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.