Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Tourism Jasper is excited about Alberta’s Open for Summer Plan and several other announcements made by the province last week.
The Alberta government will remove provincewide health measures in three stages as vaccine targets for COVID-19 are reached and hospitalizations decline.
“We’ve been asking for a consistent and predictable reopening plan for some time, so we’re definitely encouraged by the plan being released and are hoping for a solid summer to come,” said James Jackson, president and CEO of Tourism Jasper.
Starting June 1, outdoor patio dining can resume, and retail can increase to 15 per cent of fire code occupancy as part of the first stage.
“If we can, as a destination, open patios… and increase retail capacities, that’s good for everyone,” Jackson said.
The second stage will allow indoor dining again with up to six people per table and dining parties no longer restricted to the household.
Retail capacity will increase to one-third capacity.
The second stage will take place two weeks after 60 per cent of Albertans age 12-plus have received at least one dose of vaccine and hospitalizations are below 500 and declining.
For the third stage, all restrictions will be lifted two weeks after the vaccination rate hits 70 per cent.
The province is also allowing accommodation providers to keep the tourism levy amounts collected between April 1 and June 30.
This three-month extension of the abatement period, which originally ended on March 31, will free up to $8 million in additional cash flow for the sector.
“It definitely helps hotels here, especially in urban and rural communities throughout Alberta that have been harder hit by COVID than those in Jasper,” Jackson said.
He cautioned that the levy would provide minimal relief if visitation rates remain stagnant.
“The issue is built on visitor volume, and when visitor volume is slim to none, it doesn’t mean that hotels are being able to retain a whole lot of additional revenue,” he said.
Jackson also praised how the application intake has been extended to June 30 for the spring 2021 payment from Alberta’s small business grant.
The next important step towards recovery for the tourism industry is ending international border restrictions, which falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
“Once that can happen, really, that’s when we’ll see a significant increase (in visitors),” Jackson said.
“To date, it seems that there is some progress being made, but we just hope that the border opens as soon as possible and as safely as possible.”
Jackson noted strong visitation over the Victoria Day long weekend.
“A lot of folks were pleasantly surprised by the level of visitation, both to campgrounds and to hotels, and to attractions across the park,” he said.
“If the May long weekend was an indication of the summer to come, things are looking a bit more hopeful for sure.”
