Hyper-local Is Where Recovery Starts

Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home when this country’s devastated tourist trade works to rebuild.

A Wednesday Destination Canada webinar said those in Canada’s tourist trade should first look close to home when working to recover from the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on their business.

“Hyper-local is where recovery starts,” Destination Canada’s Chantz Strong told the event.
Strong warned that fully rebuilding tourism will be a lengthy process, possibly taking several years for some sectors.

“There’s so much uncertainty about what’s going to happen and how to deal with it,” he said.
Those in tourism will have to work to convince their fellow Canadians of the importance of tourism at a time when many communities may be wary of hosting people from other provinces and abroad given concerns about coronavirus.

Phased Recovery

Strong said Canadian tourism’s recovery will be in phases, with the first being “hyper-local,” and seeing people travel “within their bubble.”

That will be followed by regional travel, which will have people travelling within their province and mark the  beginning of overnight trips.’

Next will be travel across provincial boundaries and include multi-day trips.
International travel will be the last segment to recover.

“International travel is essentially at a standstill,” Strong said.

Strong said generally Canadians spend more travelling than international travellers spend while vacationing within this country and “our job is to convince these Canadians (who vacation out of country) to travel within Canada.”

Destination Canada interim president David Robinson agreed that those involved in Canadian tourism should work to convince their compatriots to vacation within Canada, saying “domestic travel has never been more important.”