Rebuilding Canada's tourism industry

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2024

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s the second largest landmass in the world, famous for its lakes and spectacular forests, yet Canada’s travel industry has faced challenges since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.

International visitor numbers still haven't recovered, and extreme weather events like wildfires have destroyed some of its best-known resorts. Plus difficult diplomatic relations have meant a reduction in tourists from a key market - China.

But Canada’s government says it has a plan for the sector which is worth $38bn CAD to Canada’s GDP.

We’ll hear about it from the country’s tourism minister and from business owners and tourists too.

Presenter/producer: Megan Lawton

(Photo: Jack Rivers is an indigenous cultural guide on Manitoulin Island, he runs tours around the Wiikwemkoong Reserve)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Megan Lawton and welcome to Business Daily from the shores of Manitoulin Island in Canada,
0:08.0	the largest freshwater island in the world.
0:11.0	It's an unspoiled area where the lakefronts are lined with dense forests, home to deer, moose and black bear.
0:20.0	It's on this island that visitors come to swim in the clear lakes,
0:24.5	cycle along the scenic roads and learn about Canada's indigenous communities.
0:29.6	But visitors aren't coming here or to other Canadian locations
0:33.2	in the numbers they were before the coronavirus pandemic.
0:36.7	And now the country is trying to do something about it.
0:41.5	On today's program on the BBC World Service,
0:44.6	we'll be asking how do you rebuild tourism
0:46.8	in the world's second largest country?
0:49.5	Just a beautiful area.
0:50.8	Canadians are friendly people,
0:52.5	and we like to...
0:54.0	Have a diet coke-court to.
0:55.3	Thank you.
0:56.8	Hearing from business owners about the struggles they face.
0:59.8	Post-pandemic, our numbers are going up up until last year. And then once the restrictions
1:06.1	lifted, we've seen it kind of die down. Learn about the role climate change is playing.
1:11.0	Less than 48 hours later, the west end of Jasper had basically burnt down.
1:16.2	And find out how diplomatic relations can impact tourism.
1:19.2	The detention of Canadians Michael Spover and Michael Kovrig, that has had the worst effect on Chinese-Canadian relations in years.
	...

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