Several Whistler companies were the recent recipients of tourism anchor funding that B.C. handed out to help major attractions and transportation companies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Part of the province’s $50-million commitment to tourism recovery, $36.5 million was provided to 83 major attractions and tour companies across B.C., including four based in Whistler: The Adventure Group, Epic Rides, The Spo7ez Cultural Centre and Community Society and Whistler Connection. Whistler Rides, which is listed as being based in Vancouver, was also a grant recipient.
“Since the onset of COVID, the entire community of Whistler has been one of the hardest impacted and the return to normalcy will take some time,” wrote The Adventure Group’s sales and marketing director Jason Langlois in an email. “The assistance that we have received throughout the pandemic from the Federal Government and now the most recent grant awarded by the BC Major Anchor Attractions Program will go a long way in reinvesting in our business and ultimately the Whistler community.”
Major attractions in rural areas that see 15,000 visitors or more a year, and tour bus companies that serve 30,000 passengers a more a year, were eligible for up to $500,000 in funding, while major attractions in urban centres with 75,000 or more visitors were eligible for up to $1 million in grant money.
Dan Harmon, GM of Whistler Connection, said he was happy to see tour bus operators recognized in the round of funding, especially considering how hard hit the sector was in the pandemic, with Harmon noting business at the company “dropped overnight by more than 95 per cent.”
“It’s nice to be recognized as a key part of the regional tourism infrastructure and to have it made publicly clear that it’s not just the attractions that are important but it’s also how tourists move around,” he added.
Harmon said the company had to get creative to keep as many staff employed as possible, which included launching a car wash and detailing service and the Whistler Driving School. He noted the grant funding would allow the company to bring back more staff ahead of the fall, as well as ramp up training in the lead-up to what is expected to be a busy winter.
The business community still has a long ways to go before it will have enough staff to weather the pent-up travel demand, not to mention next month’s opening of the U.S. border, and hopefully down the line, the resumption of travel from other international markets.
“We will still likely see some growth coming out of regional markets for end of summer and moving into the fall, like Washington State and potentially California. But as far as seeing any significant growth out of the U.S., or for that matter any future international markets, which are still to be determined, we anticipate the benefits of the border openings will not be fully enjoyed until next winter,” explained Tourism Whistler (TW) president Barrett Fisher.
Fisher added that there has been strong interest from markets like the U.K., but it’s appearing unlikely that Whistler will be able to rely as heavily on visitation from Australia this winter, given the current border restrictions and slow vaccine rollout there.
Whistler is also hopeful to bring back the stream of temporary foreign workers (TFW), historically a significant piece of the local labour pool, in time for this winter, but that is complicated by the federal government’s reluctance to hire TFWs for certain entry-level positions given current unemployment rates, said Melissa Pace, CEO of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce.
“These are entry-level positions such as cashier, hospitality, tourism and retail, store shelf stockers, dishwashers, food preps, housekeeping staff, construction trade labourers,” she said. “We’re advocating to government to bring attention to this labour crisis and provide the support our community needs so that we can successfully recover and build back our economy again.”
Part of that advocacy means compiling labour data, which the chamber is currently working on in conjunction with the Whistler Institute and Whistler Personnel Solutions in the form of a survey that will go out next month to both job seekers and employers across the Sea to Sky.
A recruitment video targeting both domestic and foreign workers is also being developed that resort stakeholders and businesses alike will be able to share on their channels. The video is expected to roll-out in the coming weeks.
“I think we’re all on the same page that we need to ensure that in the same way we’re attracting international visitors back, we need to be able to attract our international employees back, because the two go hand in glove,” Fisher said.
