Some tourism business owners are eager for the GNWT to start allowing vaccinated travellers to enter the territory more freely – ending nearly two years of economic pain.
For now, non-residents are only allowed into the territory with permission from the chief public health officer (CPHO) for certain reasons: they’re travelling from Nunavut, vacationing at remote operations, visiting family or other exceptional circumstances.
In her opening statement during Northwest Territories Tourism’s annual general meeting on Oct. 26, Caroline Wawzonek, the territory’s tourism minister, said could not provide a firm timeline on when border restrictions would be loosened.
“I closed my comments to you last year by saying how much I was looking forward to seeing you all in person in 2021. But here we are again, meeting virtually,” she stated.
The NWT’s vaccination rate has surged, she noted, and “as vaccination certificates and passports become the norm, the confidence of the vaccinated traveller will increase and we expect to see leisure travel begin a slow but steady recovery.”
“I think I share the hope with many of you here today that with high vaccine uptake we have begun to turn a corner on a critical period for the Northwest Territories, and we can once again anticipate the eventual reopening of the territory to national and international visitors,” she said.
“When that reopening will happen, I cannot say,” she continued. “As we’ve all come to learn over the last couple years, and perhaps even more so in the last couple of months, the evolving Covid-19 pandemic has created uncertainty around timelines.”
On Oct. 30, anyone aged 12 or over will need to show proof of vaccination when travelling in Canada by plane, train or cruise ship, according to new federal regulations.
Channeling her “colleague, Minister of Health, Julie Green,” Wawzonek championed the need to get vaccinated.
“There is an important role that you can play in this space: many of those who are in the remaining 10-15 per cent of the population who are unvaccinated may attribute their decision to a lack of confidence or trust in government. We need support in the public and private sectors for science, specifically for the medical science that underlies government decisions about vaccination policy,” she said.
She noted NWT and most of the provinces have adopted the national standard passport, which can be used to show your vaccination history both within Canada and internationally, though it does not guarantee entry into other countries, which may have their own rules and regulations.
She also noted the GNWT has helped the tourism industry survive the pandemic, providing over $10 million in financial aid and $30 million for the territory’s airlines, in addition to the Tourism Recovery and Investment Program and other subsidies.
“Our support will not end when the borders reopen. The Tourism 2025 strategy will guide our ongoing recovery and help reposition our tourism industry for growth and prosperity,” she stated.
Support Northern operators
Dan Wong, owner of Jackpine Paddle, commended the GNWT for allowing non-residents to access some remote touristic attractions during the height of the pandemic, which helped his business survive.
“We were able to run some guided canoe trips last summer with out of territory guests,” he said. “But that there’s still a lot of restrictions and there’s a lot of extra work for guests to do.”
Impediments to his guests include self-isolation plans, the need for longer trips and a limit on the number of communities they were able to visit, “so any movement towards a broader reopening would be positive.”
Despite the coronavirus, his company has grown every year since its founding, he noted, thanks to the “combination of tremendous local support from northerners who want to get outside and canoe, combined with some out of territory guests last summer,” but noted the industry as a whole needs to recover.
“As we bounce back, I think the focus should be on supporting local outfitters and operators so that the North can benefit more from tourism,” he said.
‘They’ve killed the economy’
Geoff Morrison, owner of Yellowknife’s Aurora Emporium Art Gallery, said the GNWT needs to, “open the border, make sure people are tested and accept the fact that Covid is here.”
“We’re just hanging on all the time, basically, and hoping they will open the border,” he said. “But these people won’t. So, we’re just in limbo.”
Though he still gets local business, his revenue has dropped by over two-thirds compared to before the pandemic due to the North’s struggling tourism industry.
He also said the government was employing “heavy handed” restrictions that were “killing the economy.”
“This is an economy with a lot of government workers and they’ve served themselves, basically, they’re all getting their full pay, some are working from home for six figure salaries while one sector of the economy is just left to die,” he said.
“They tried to keep the diamond mining going. They exempted certain businesses, but not others,” he continued. “It’s pretty unfair what’s happened here and it continues to be that way.”