‘The summer is shaping up really well’: Ottawa Tourism
Posted Jul 4, 2023 11:21:55 AM.
With Canada Day festivities now in the rearview mirror, tourism groups are turning their attention to the rest of the summer season, which is set to be quite busy, with a full slate of festivals, activities and events.
“We’re seeing things get busier, people will notice when they’re out and about that there’s generally more people around and more vibrancy, which is wonderful” explained Catherine Callary, the vice president of Destination Development for Ottawa Tourism.
Of course, the biggest local festival starts this week, with RBC Bluesfest, which runs from July 6-16, but she highlights those day trips as something that has really been a positive driving force out of the pandemic, and something that people are doing more often, which is vacationing local.
“More and more (people are) inviting their friends and relatives to explore with them.”
While RBC Bluesfest is a major economic driver, there is increased visibility on hotels, although they haven’t experienced the same type of recovery, due to a major decrease in one of their staples.
Conventions are much more infrequent, due to more hybrid work, and less corporate travel.
“So it’s going to take us a bit of time to recover in those segments, but it is coming, we are seeing it improve every month and every year.” explained Steve Ball of the Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association.
One of the biggest concerns across the billion dollar industry is an end-of-year deadline to repay loans to the federal government.
Many small businesses, and many in the tourism sector relied on CEBA loans to help them through the early days of the pandemic. But with many also still not fully back to pre-pandemic levels of revenue, repaying the loans have proved difficult for many.
That’s why there’s a push to have it deferred to the end of 2024.
The provincial Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Neil Lumsden, tells City News he has spoken to his federal counterpart about the issue.
“We want them to be able to breathe a little bit easier and get a better footing under themselves.”
