NWT Tourism Coronavirus Update #16 - Meeting with Minister Nokleby and NWT Tourism Response and Recovery Plan for Industry

Dear valued members,

We have been hearing from a number of you more frequently in the past two weeks, and understand the serious concerns raised with us about your business survival, given recent announcements by the Government of the Northwest Territories that border restrictions will be in place until there is a vaccine available for Covid-19. The news story carrying this information can be found by clicking here. 

On Friday afternoon I, along with our Chief Executive Officer met with Minister Nokleby, (GNWT Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Minister of Infrastructure, and Minister Responsible for the Worker's Safety and Compensation Commission) to discuss concerns of our industry. Together, we presented a Response, Recovery and Resiliency Framework for the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories. You can find this document by clicking clicking here. 

Below is a summary of key items discussed with the Minister.

Summer Season
During the meeting, we outlined concerns for the financial hardship on the business community, noting that the tourism sector was hit first and will recover last. We discussed with Minister Nokleby that May is a critical month. If May comes and goes and there is no clarity on when the NWT border could open, summer will be lost to the tourism industry.

May is the month that paddling companies, fishing lodges and hunting outfitters have critical dates for summer bookings and cancellation clauses in effect. We estimate the loss of revenue to the Northwest Territories in direct visitor expenditure will be as high as $170 million dollars in 2020 if the NWT’s borders cannot reopen this year. Summer is the portion of the tourism season that most benefits the smaller communities. Many lodge owners and outfitters need the summer season to maintain their camps for safety and health reasons and to protect their investments and summer revenue enables this work to get done.

Value of Tourism to the NWT & Commitment to Safety & Health
We also discussed the importance of the tourism industry beyond measuring the direct spend by visitors. Direct visitor spend does not capture the entire picture of what the tourism industry contributes to NWT communities and the NWT economy. Fishing lodges and outpost camps supply accommodation for forest fire fighters, and if they are not open this option will not be there for the GNWT this summer. The major airlines and small northern airlines rely on tourism as a large portion of their customer base to pay for their operations all year long, and if they can’t survive without a summer season, lifelines to communities are broken. Guided hunts provide meat to communities, paddling trips and fishing provide employment to guides and hosts, road trips provide employment to campsite contractors, and we know that restaurants, accommodation providers, retailers and Indigenous communities all benefit from tourism.

We communicated to the Minister our hope that with proper planning and effective health and safety protocols in place, the tourism industry could still play an important contributing role to the economy of the NWT this year. We also communicated our commitment to work with the GNWT to keep NWT residents and communities safe, as we explore opportunities to have some summer tourism.

Minister Nokleby is aware of the value of the tourism industry to the NWT. Although she would like to see our tourism sector open for business this summer, she has expressed that the NWT has a very fragile health care system and vulnerable communities and that the precautions that have been put in place are to prevent overloading the health system from an outbreak of COVID 19. She was clear there will not be a general lifting of restrictions on travel to the NWT anytime soon.

Minister Nokleby has though committed to help our industry explore whether some remote tourism businesses might be able to meet the requirements needed for exemptions from the Chief Public Health Officer that could allow operation. At this time, it looks like only tourism businesses that are remote from communities and that can develop strategies to completely eliminate any chance of community transmission would have a chance to be granted an exemption by the Chief Public Health Officer. This is how oil companies, mines and remote exploration camps have managed to remain operational.

This week we will be communicating with WSCC, ITI and others to understand the requirements for risk mitigation protocols, and our goal is to see if any parts of our summer tourism industry can meet the standards required by the Chief Public Health Officer for an exemption. We acknowledge that the cost of meeting the standards to completely eliminate risk of transmission to communities may be so high that some businesses would choose to remain closed, but if we see that some possibilities exist, we will work with specific sectors on a framework that may assist in meeting the exemption. Ultimately it will be the decision of individual businesses as to whether they can meet exemption requirements. It is our understanding that exemptions will only be granted on and individual basis—each tour operator would need to apply for their own exemption. 

I wish I had better news to share with all of you but for now it looks like the only hope for a summer tourism season may be limited to those businesses that can meet exemption requirements.

Competitive Positioning and Resident Hospitality
We discussed the importance of having community “social license to operate” as a critical success ingredient for our industry, and that tourism to our destination is in a tourism industry framework that is global and highly competitive. NWT Residents have always been known for their warm hospitality towards visitors, but we are worried that COVID-19 has disrupted the way some residents view the visitor. When things are safe again or safety protocols are in place, our visitors need to be warmly welcomed. We have suggested that measuring resident sentiment for visitors and measuring the understanding of the value that tourism brings to the NWT and to local communities is important work that needs to be done.

We have also discussed that current measures of direct spend by visitors in the NWT does not capture the entire picture of what the tourism industry contributes to our communities and our economy. We would like full modelling that includes indirect and induced expenditures so that NWT Residents better understand the benefits of tourism in their communities. Getting on top of this is an important part of a recovery plan.

Communication and Information sharing
We have discussed with the Minister that Industry, Tourism and Investment has the mandates for tourism operator licencing, tourism product development, tourism research and tourism training and that our membership is asking for more direct communications from ITI in a way that opens up opportunities for our members to provide input into the GNWT’s plan for recovery. We have shared that members would like the following:

• Publication of the results of the survey undertaken by GNWT ITI in March and information about what those survey results, along with border closure decisions will mean for ITI programs and services for our industry now and in the future;
• The GNWT to present its plan to recover, and the steps and phases in the plan with a lens on tourism;
• Clarity on opportunities for input into the recovery plan and into the modification of programs and services that GNWT will use to help industry recover; and
• Licenced tour operators would greatly appreciate updates on changes to travel restrictions/guidelines to come directly from Government.

Tourism Industry Meeting with the Minister
Minister Nokleby has offered to meet with our membership on Friday, May 8th at 9:00 a.m. MT, so please set time aside in your schedule to call in.  The details for the call with the Minister will be issued separately, as soon as we have the video conference call set up and finalize the agenda with the Minister’s office.

There are many more things that we brought forward in this meeting, and while we do not have the power to implement policy on border closures or other health orders, and we know our industry wants to ensure the health and safety of our employees and of NWT Residents, we continue to advocate on behalf of our industry and all the work you have done and are doing for this industry.

Other Advocacy Work
In terms of other advocacy work, things have been very busy. Our CEO continues to advocate for our industry, working through the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, and bringing the perspective the tourism industry in the NWT to this association which advocates on the national front. She is also directly connected with Destination Canada, and this organization is also very active in assisting the tourism industry in Canada. She is working with the NWT Chamber and Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce to ensure common issues are identified and together they are advocating for relief and recovery of our industry.

If you have missed our communications about what we are doing to advocate for the tourism industry in the NWT, I would like to refer you to the home page of the Members Website (no login required) where all communications are available: https://members.spectacularnwt.com/

In closing, many of you are connecting with me and our CEO directly. We appreciate you sharing your realities. I know this is a tremendously difficult time for the tourism industry in the Northwest Territories, as it is across the globe. I want to assure you that we are working on behalf of industry to help both the federal and territorial governments understand our industry, its needs, and our perspectives during the COVID-19 crisis and into the future.

Take care.  Stay in touch.  Be kind to one another.

Harold Grinde
Chairperson
Northwest Territories Tourism