‘Struggle to come back will take years’: Vancouver Island Tourism CEO
SHARE ON: @NaturalWild66 Instagram
Of all B.C.’s economic sectors impacted by COVID-19, you could argue tourism and hospitality has been hit the hardest.
The numbers show just how much of a downturn the sector has taken because of the pandemic.
In a pre-COVID year, tourism generates $3.5-billion and supports 70,000 jobs in the Vancouver Island region
But domestic overnight visitation to the island is down 43 percent, since the most recent public health orders and guidelines were implemented.
Research collected by the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat also shows:
Only 17 percent of BC tourism businesses in the five regions have been operating as usual;