B.C. increases funding for tourism industry grants

The B.C. government is boosting the amount of money available for emergency grants for the hard-hit tourism sector.

The province is adding $55 million to the previously announced $50 million available and a further $5 million is earmarked for B.C.’s Indigenous tourism sector.

2:08 Tourism task force reports to B.C. government on state of the industry

The application process is also being streamlined and simplified, the province says.

The funding for the tourism sector will be delivered through the province’s Small and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant program.

Earlier this month, B.C.’s tourism industry asked the provincial government to fast-track funding to help keep it afloat amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3:37 A call for action from B.C.’s Tourism Task Force

The province’s tourism task force also released a report that said “it is unlikely that demand will return before 2022 and it will take even longer for revenues and employment to return to pre-COVID levels.”

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“Tourism is a microcosm of B.C.: It has big and small businesses, large revenues and small, a diverse population and a love of our province, but at its core tourism is a people business,” the report reads.

“With emergency funding now, we can continue to deliver the benefits of this excellence into the future.”