There has to be gas in the tank, so to speak, so the City of Saskatoon is ready to roll when the COVID-19 crisis is over.

That from President and CEO of Tourism Saskatoon Todd Brandt who says the pandemic has been devastating to the tourism and visitor industries with everything coming to an abrupt halt on March 15th and no indication on when they can open again.

Brandt acknowledges that some of the federal programs that have come out are helping workers and staff but he stresses that they need to get ready for the next wave which is investment in marketing and sales as soon as it is possible to do so.

Brandt says Saskatoon has about an annual $560-million visitor economy and they will be lucky to hit half that in the current year. He notes that venues are closed, attractions are closed, bars and restaurants are closed and the hotels that aren’t closed are running on a skeleton staff.

Some of the hotels in Saskatoon remain open to be available to the front line workers exposed daily to the risk of COVID-19 but they don’t want to bring that back into their home environment. Brandt says they have been offered rates that are really at the hotels’ cost just to be able to offer a service. As well, he says hotels can step in and provide isolated areas for the at-risk population in order to not spread COVID-19 within the community.