Northern Ontario tourism operators elated to hear border measures to lift shortly

All remaining COVID-19 restrictions will soon be lifted for border crossings in Canada.

It means U.S. visitors to this country will no longer have to show proof of vaccination, undergo pre-arrival testing or submit health information with the ArriveCAN app.

That's music to the ears of tourism operators in northern Ontario who've lost revenue without their American guests.

As soon as Sue Crane heard the news Monday, she put up a post on her resort's Facebook page. She co-owns Crane's Lochaven Wilderness Lodge in the French River area, south of Sudbury, Ont.

"We've been waiting for the borders to open for quite some time," she said.

Prior to the pandemic, 70 per cent of the resort's visitors were from the U.S. Crane estimates they lost half their revenue in 2020 when the borders were closed to recreational travel. She said the resort was forced to change its marketing strategy to appeal to domestic visitors.

"We were fairly successful, but we're still missing a lot of the American guests who come for a week, large families come for a week," Crane said, explaining that the U.S. guests tend to stay for a week or more compared to their Canadian customers. 

Despite the setbacks, Crane said they had a good season.

"Could it have been better if these [border] restrictions were lifted earlier? Yes."

According to statistics collected by northern Ontario tourism organizations, before the pandemic, more than one million U.S. guests came to northern Ontario annually, adding $466 million to the economy per year.

David MacLachlan, executive director of Destination Northern Ontario, estimates operators across the entire region lost a total of $1.2 billion in revenue over the past three seasons, all because of the border restrictions.

"It's definitely had an impact in terms of people coming to visit Ontario," he said.

Some operators were forced to close permanently, while others worked to appeal to domestic travelers.

"It's like the virus itself and the way people react; I think different businesses have faced different situations depending how long they've been there. Really their ability to transition to that domestic market has been key," he said.

MacLachlan said it was easier for operators in the northeast to appeal to domestic travellers, compared to those in the northwest.

"It's almost like we could hear a big sigh from the industry as soon as we heard the announcement," Laurie Marcil, executive director of Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario (NOTO), said of Monday's news.

"We're very elated, were very pleased to see that happen.

"It allows them to go into marketing season — which is generally from December to the end of March — with more clarity," said Marcil.

"They now will know who can come, which hasn't been known for the last two years."

It's been a challenging time for tourism outfitters and operators dealing with uncertainty.

"The operators are often the front line when it comes to clarification for their guests, when it comes to dealing with their guests, in preparation for coming up to northern Ontario," said Marcil.

"Seeing some of their guests unable to make it, and other guests not wanting to even take the chance because of all of these challenges that they may face [trying to cross the border]."

Many operators used federal government loan programs to help them stay afloat during the pandemic. 

"We've asked for those loans, the loan payment cycle deadline, to be extended. We're even asking for some of those that have been hardest impacted for their loans to be forgivable," Marcil said.

Although Crane has already started marketing to entice U.S. residents to her resort this fall, MacLachlan expects most operators to start seeing more tourists from across the border by next spring and summer. 

"We figure it's going to take five to seven years for the sector to kind of get their balance sheets back in order to pre-pandemic levels."