Ontario's hard hit hotel industry hopes for recovery amid pandemic
Ontario's hard hit hotel industry hopes for recovery amid pandemic
TORONTO -
The hotel industry was one of the hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic and this past spring, 80 per cent of hotel rooms in the Greater Toronto Area sat empty and 65 hotels were completely closed.
As more people are vaccinated and travel restrictions are lifted, visitors are slowly returning to hotels for business and tourism purposes.
“Most of the hotels that were closed in the past have re-opened,” Terry Mundell, CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, said.
Mundell said while the hotels have been missing out on conventions and major events, as the border re-opens to American visitors and international travel restrictions are lifted, some business travel is starting to return.
“We are getting meetings and events coming back, but it's slow and generally smaller groups,” Mundell said. “We are in better shape than we were last year, but clearly we have a long way to go."
As hotels get ready to welcome back visitors, it's also dealing with a severe staff shortage.
“We lost a significant amount of workers when travel ground to a halt and many of the workers did transition into other sectors and we are aggressively trying to recruit them back, but the demand (for hotel stays) just hasn't been there," Susie Grynol, CEO of the Hotel Association of Canada, said.
Grynol said she believes the hotel sector will begin a more robust recovery starting in the spring of next year. The group says nationally occupancy rates are down about 50 per cent from 2019 pre-pandemic levels and believes vaccine passports will give visitors more confidence to travel.
“Vaccine passports are going to allow for the movement of people and allow people to feel safe so we do support them. We do hope there is not a different system in every province that makes it difficult for people to move around," Grynol said.
The return of sporting events, festivals and concerts will also help the hotel industry return to pre-pandemic occupancy rates.
Both associations feel the fall and winter months will continue to be difficult for the hotel industry, but they're hopeful early 2022 will see the sector start on the road to recovery.
A study by the Destination Toronto in March of this year found the previous 12 months cost the tourism sector in the GTA about $14 billion in lost tourism revenue.
With the latest hike bringing Canada's key interest rates to levels not seen since 2001, one mortgage broker is warning that it may be 'the last straw' for some homeowners with variable mortgages.
It's been a busy, tumultuous few days for Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex as he took his place on the witness stand in his trial against the Mirror Group Newspapers. Here are royal commentator Afua Hagan's top takeaways from his two-day grilling.
Poor air quality is forecast to persist into the weekend across parts of Ontario, as plumes of wildfire smoke blanket the province and prompt school boards to limit outdoor activities.
The Bank of Canada's latest decision to raise its key interest rate comes at a time when many are struggling to afford their homes. CTVNews.ca wants to hear from people in Canada who are going to great lengths to find affordable housing.
One of the architects of the law that governs Canada's prison system says it's understandable people want revenge on killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, but that's not what the prison system is designed for.
With social media ever-present in modern life, figuring out when and how to introduce it to children is something every parent will have to deal with eventually. CTV's Your Morning spoke to a child-life specialist about how parents can have that conversation and be positive role models too.
Further evacuations are necessary in Abitibi and Nord-du-Québec due to forest fires. Although the situation has improved on the North Shore due to rain, no precipitation is expected further west until Monday.
In an interview on CJAD 800 Radio, Quebec Conservative Party leader Eric Duhaime said the new measures in place related to Quebec's ammendments to the French Language Charter have made Quebec a 'laughingstock' and that phone and website messages are 'offensive.'
On Wednesday, the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) filed a writ of intervention with the housing tribunal (TAL) to plead in favour of two tenants opposing the clause in their lease prohibiting them from owning animals in their dwelling.
A lifejacket and a swift response by the community are credited with saving the life of a swimmer who had drifted from shore near Grand Bend last weekend.
Smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Northern Ontario is finding its way into the region. While the London, Ont. area has escaped the extreme haze seen over parts of Eastern Ontario, a special air quality advisory is in effect — anyone looking up Tuesday evening could see why.
Construction has started on Dundas Street between Quebec and Egerton streets. The work is for the East London Link and is expected to take about two months to complete.
High levels of air pollution have developed in Waterloo region and Wellington County as smoke plumes from wildfires burning in Quebec and northeastern Ontario continue to blow into the region, Environment Canada says.
A northern Ontario forest fire that started west of Sudbury on Sunday morning has grown to more than 1,000 hectares and has prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for the immediate area as the number of active fires in the region grows.
Poor air quality is forecast to persist into the weekend across parts of Ontario, as plumes of wildfire smoke blanket the province and prompt school boards to limit outdoor activities.
Windsor police are looking for witnesses to a serious collision involving a pedestrian Tuesday afternoon that sent a 62-year-old man to hospital with life-threatening conditions.
Multiple municipalities across Simcoe County are under fire bans amid tinder-dry conditions igniting concerns about the potential dangers of out-of-control fires.
The chief of the Shelburne Volunteer Fire Department says the blaze near Barrington Lake, which is now classified as “held,” is unlike anything he’s ever seen.
Halifax media outlets were given a tour of the neighbourhoods hardest hit by the Tantallon wildfire Tuesday afternoon and saw firsthand the damage and destruction left behind.
Irving Oil says it’s undertaking a “strategic review” with an eye to its future. In a release Wednesday, the company says it’s looking at a number of options, including the sale of its assets.
The man who was found not criminally responsible in the stabbing deaths of five people at a house party in Brentwood more than nine years ago is seeking more freedoms.
A reward of $100,000 is up for grabs as police in Metro Vancouver renew calls for help finding 36-year-old Cody Timothy Casey—a man wanted Canada-wide for a total of 17 drugs and firearms offences.
The pounding sounds of running on hardwood, the smash of the ball hitting the boards and the cheer of the crowd—it’s officially lacrosse season at Queens Park Arena in New Westminster.
The man who was found not criminally responsible in the stabbing deaths of five people at a house party in Brentwood more than nine years ago is seeking more freedoms.
