The Government of Saskatchewan announced $35 million in support for Saskatchewan’s tourism sector Monday.
Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison says the Saskatchewan Tourism Sector Support Program will offer a one-time, non-repayable emergency payment to eligible hospitality and event attraction operators. He says the Tourism Sector has been brought to a standstill because of pandemic measures. Harrison adds it’s unfortunate that the Federal Government has only been willing to provide support to the tourism sector of certain parts of the country, which does not include Western Canada.
Harrison says for the accommodation sector and large event facilities, payments will range from $10,000 to $50,000, depending on sales revenue. For attraction, tour or event operators with ongoing fixed costs, payments will range from $7,500 to $15,000.
Minster Responsible for Tourism Gene Makowsy says as a result of COVID-19 tourism operators, attractions and events across Saskatchewan have endured a travel season like never before. Prior to the pandemic, he says, Saskatchewan’s visitor economy was maintaining steady, strong growth numbers. Travel expenditures exceeded $2 billion and the industry injected over $720 million of export dollars. Makowsky says a year ago the tourism industry employed over 71,000 people or over 12% of Saskatchewan’s working population.
The President of the Saskatchewan Hotel and Hospitality Association says the announcement will go so far to help operators in the industry. Jim Bence says they’re very pleased with the significant investment, but while this will help a lot of people with fixed costs, it is just the beginning of the conversation.
Bence says things have been better since things were shut down during the pandemic, the first step in that recovery, he says, was the government’s $2 billion investment in infrastructure. He explains they started to see more trucks in the parking lots of hotels and that really did have an impact on small and medium sized markets. It was a big boost for markets, he says, that don’t always have access to tourism dollars.
More information on the program, including eligibility details, is due out on August 20th. Applications will begin on the 24th.
