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Hello and welcome to the latest edition of TIAO’s weekly newsletter. As we head into the long weekend, we wanted to thank you for your continued support of the work that TIAO does and we hope that you are able to enjoy a weekend with your friends and families.  

This week, TIAO launched its pre-election survey designed to capture your views as the short campaign for the Ontario Provincial Election is set to begin. The information we collect will lay the foundations for our work during the provincial election. At a critical time for the tourism industry, when our recovery is far from secured, we need to ensure that prospective members of the provincial parliament are fully aware of the challenges we face. We need to utilize our relationships with all political parties and the media to make sure the issues that matter to the tourism industry are raised and answered during the election. So please complete the survey by clicking here and please share as widely as possible. 

Also happening this week, the funding portals for Tourism Relief Funding from RTO’s and ITO in partnership with FedDev Ontario opened. Please visit the dedicated RTO TRF site for the fund by clicking here where you can also learn more about the program and find your own dedicated portal for your local RTO to find details on how to apply and important dates associated with your application. If you have questions or would like advice about your application, please don’t hesitate to contact the TIAO team or use the contact details provided by your local RTO. 

On this week's TIAO stakeholder calls we went through the recent federal government budget, picking out some of the key announcements pertaining to the tourism industry and the wider economy. You can download our slides from that call further down in this newsletter. On the call itself, we expressed our disappointment that key recommendations put forward by the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses and TIAC were not taken up by the federal government. The decision not to extend financial support for the tourism industry is unfortunate because as we all know, reopening doesn’t mean recovery, especially when there are significant barriers to travel remaining and depressed consumer confidence. Specifically, TIAO will continue to work with TIAC to push for national solutions to the appalling examples of price gouging in the commercial insurance market and for further debt forgiveness for those who have taken out CEBA, RRRF and HASCAP loans.  

However, there were a series of welcome announcements that TIAO strongly supports and that have been key advocacy asks over the past several years in collaboration with industry partners. One of the key announcements, actually announced before the budget was released, were key changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). These changes will allow businesses in accommodation and food services to fill a larger proportion of essential positions with temporary foreign workers and will open up the opportunity for more tourism and hospitality businesses to fill persistently vacant low-wage positions through the TFWP—key asks that TIAO has been pushing for.  

The federal government also confirmed its intention to develop a new post-pandemic Federal Tourism Growth Strategy focused on the labour crisis and destination development. Other announcements in the budget included financial support for Indigenous tourism, a tax incentive for small businesses, defunding border closure operations, further consultations on reducing credit card process fees and measures to address the housing crisis. TIAO will of course share any opportunities for stakeholders to take part in any of the proposed new consultations and will ensure the voice of the tourism industry in Ontario is heard. Everyone at TIAO would like to thank the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses and TIAC for all their hard work in fighting for our industry.  

As COVID-19 relief winds down, TIAO will continue working to ensure the stability of long-term tourism funds: tools like the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) will become increasingly important to financing the tourism marketing that is critical to attracting visitors back to local Ontario destinations. In the next weeks, TIAO and our tourism delegation will meet with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to discuss challenges with MAT implementation and solutions to improve the current MAT framework so that it can best support local tourism economies. 

Finally, this week the TIAO DEI working group held its latest webinar as part of the Building Inclusive Tourism: Monthly Webinar Series entitled ‘Best Practices of Integrating DEI Principles at the DMO Level’. Thank you to all of those that attended the session and to our excellent speakers, moderator and curators of the session. Please visit our website here to learn of future sessions and access past sessions. 

Thank you for taking the time to read our latest TIAO newsletter. As ever, if you have any questions or queries, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.

Christopher Bloore,
President & CEO

Dr. Jessica Ng
Director, Policy & Gov't Affairs

This week the provincial government announced its plan for ‘Ontario to Stay Open’ if there is a regression in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan, introduced by Prabmeet Sarkaria, President of the Treasury Board, is a welcome step. We need Ontario’s healthcare system and supply chains to be robust in facing down any new variants and have the capacity to avoid future lock-downs.  TIAO and many of our partners have been calling for this sort of plan for some time and we welcome its introduction. However, it is important that two years into this pandemic, we must provide clarity and certainty on economic support for businesses if the worst is to happen. We need a plan to develop and increase our healthcare capacity and an efficient roll out of economic support for businesses if they’re asked to close again. I’m hopeful that all parties, as part of their election platforms, will come to a consensus view that both are essential for keeping our economy moving. 

This morning, applicants to the Ontario Tourism Recovery Program (OTRP) started to receive their letters from the provincial government regarding their application status. After delays in the roll out of the program, we’re delighted to hear members confirm they have received decisions on their applications. TIAO thanks Minister Lisa MacLeod for her steadfast commitment to delivering this program and, as evidenced by it being oversubscribed, this funding is desperately needed. However, in a competitive application process such as the OTRP, we know there will be those who are left disappointed. If you feel your application has been incorrectly adjudicated, please contact the team and we would be happy to assist you. 

The Federal Government has now confirmed that the Federal Budget will be delivered on April 7. I would like to thank all of you for your support in our lobbying campaign in support of TIAC and the Coalition of Hardest Hit Businesses for increased and extended support for the hardest hit sectors such as the tourism industry. You can read the template copy of the letter we sent to every Ontario MP here. 

The Ontario provincial election is fast approaching and gives us the opportunity to once again make the case for the vital role that tourism will play in the economic recovery of our province. Last weekend the Ontario Liberal Party laid out a series of its economic priorities and pledges if it was to form the next government. Included in those pledges was a plan to ‘suspend corporate income tax for small businesses most impacted by COVID-19 for 2022 and 2023 – with relief scaled to losses in revenues and eliminated entirely for businesses that lost more than 50% of revenues as a result of the pandemic’.  

It is pleasing to see that there is now an active conversation ongoing and acknowledgement that for some businesses, such as in tourism, our recovery will not be immediate. We look forward to reading more details on this policy and look forward to reading about the other political parties' plans to support our long-term recovery with prolonged economic supports that recognize the challenges we face on the front-line where obstacles to travel and poor consumer confidence continue to suppress demand and revenues. 

Finally, this is a bittersweet day for the TIAO team as it is the last day of work for our Communications Coordinator, Chris Albrecht. Chris joined the TIAO team permanently after a very successful internship in 2021 having recently completing her studies in the 2-year Tourism – Marketing and Program Development program offered by Georgian College. Chris joined TIAO with more than 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry across Canada, as Chris chose to transition to a new career in the tourism industry combining her passion for customer service with her love for tourism and travel.  

Chris has been an integral member of the TIAO team, often responsible for churning out complex analysis of government policy on our social media channels and website just moments after it was released. Chris has revolutionized our website, curated our weekly newsletter and has been a constant source of support for stakeholders at all hours.  We will miss you Chris - not just because of your dedication and commitment to your work, but for everything you brought to our team. We’re thrilled that you’ve earned this incredible opportunity to do your dream job and travel the world!  

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. As ever, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Christopher Bloore, President & CEO, TIAO