Yukon’s Tourism Relief and Recovery Plan

okay good morning everyone thank you for joining us for the announcement of the yukon tourism relief and recovery plan my name is cameron weber with the department of tourism and culture i'll be moderating today's live stream uh at veenveniet we'll be providing french translation and closed captioning is available as well there's a link in the description uh this morning's announcement will be presented by the minister of tourism and culture jeannie mclean she is joined by neil hartling chair of the tourism industry association of yukon and denny kobayashi chair of the yukon tourism advisory board following this morning's remarks we will go to the phone lines for questions from reporters reporters will be called on by name and will each have two questions before we begin i would just like to verify that everyone can hear us uh if any reporters are having a problem please email ecoinfo gov dot yk dot ca and with that mr mclean over to you great thank you so much i'm so happy to be here today with you on the traditional territory of the kwan linden first nation and the ta'ang kochan council to speak to you about tourism uconn's tourism industry has been dramatically impacted by the near complete shutdown of international domestic and local travel due to code 19. without government support and leadership a downturn of this scale would lead to a critical loss to the tourism industry of skilled human capital entrepreneurship and infrastructure tourism infrastructure such as hotels can also be critical for the health of many of our economic sectors the tourism relief and recovery plan is an investment of up to 15 million over the next three years to fulfill 19 targeted actions that are based on research industry feedback and the vision values goals and pillars of the yukon tourism development strategy yukon's tourism relief and recovery plan is centered on four themes providing tourism sector leadership rebuilding confidence and capabilities for tourism supporting the recovery of tourism industry operators and refining the brand and inspiring travelers to visit because of the fluid and responsive nature of the plan and the work still in progress with our stakeholders as we move forward with implementation i'm focusing today on the financial initiatives that will begin this fiscal year i recently announced three new relief programs totaling four million for the current fiscal year the accommodation sector the tourism non-accommodation sector and the culture and tourism non-profits sorry with today's release of the tourism relief and recovery plan i'm pleased to announce five new recovery initiatives that will also begin this fiscal year the first is supporting industry in the adoption of standardized safe travel protocols through this initiative we will support the tourism industry association of yukon to adopt standardized safe travel protocols for the protection of visitors and residents we know that maintaining a healthy tourism sector will not come at a cost of protecting the health and safety of uconners through these protocols we will ensure residents and travelers have confidence that the necessary precautions are being taken by our business community the next key initiative involves rebuilding resident support for tourism we know that the fear of importing coveted 19 to yukon made some residents hesitant to welcome visitors in the territory especially in yukon communities we will partner with the industry to conduct research and address concerns by developing and implementing a resident and community support for tourism strategy the next initiative is a one window approach for our industry partners to access these supports and services this is a priority action identified by the yukon tourism advisory board to this end we will we are funding the development and implementation of concierge services with our partners to assist businesses in navigating and optimizing government funding supports for tourism businesses and organizations providing more coordinated and consistent government response to industry needs finally we will begin to invest in the development of a recovery specific place brand for uconn as a whole the new branding will articulate what uconn means to us and the story we want or sorry and what story we as a territory will tell those who want to visit invest do business and live here this initiative involves a community engagement process with businesses communities residents and governments to identify and confirm the qualities that make uconn truly special and unique and the things we we should celebrate protect and promote we will utilize the resulting marketing and communication tools to raise the awareness of yukon as a destination and attract visitors but also to promote promote our exports attract investment capital and build our skilled workforce envisioned as a shared public asset for the entire territory a yukon place brand will not only contribute to yukon's recovery from the pandemic and grow our economy but it will also bind us together through collective expression of what makes uconn so special the tourism relief and recovery plan sets out the overall approach to reaching a state of full recovery for the tourism sector and will guide our relief and recovery efforts going forward this plan includes support for relief as well as recovery and an overall strengthening of yukon's tourism sector in a way that is safe and economically viable leading to a more resilient sector for the future this is truly an investment not an expense by bringing the tourism industry back to full operating capacity earlier the net economic benefits to uconners will be substantial as we have seen the pandemic landscape will also will have ebbs and flows and this plan is designed to allow us to shift back and forth from relief to recovery over the coming months the government of yukon will continue to engage with the yukon tourism advisory board the tourism industry association of yukon tourism businesses non-profit organizations and other partners to implement these initiatives in a way that responds to in a way that responds to industry's needs i want to emphasize this plan is a partnership the leadership shown by the tourism industry association of yukon and its cons and its constituent organizations and by the yukon tourism advisory board has been steadfast it has and has been a major contributor to this plan it is hard to overstate how badly the pandemic has hurt our dynamic resilient tourism industry the last 10 months have been really dark times but the resolve shown by taya's leadership and the yukon tourism advisory board and other industry leaders has been inspiring therefore i'm very pleased to share this announcement with tourism industry association chair neil hartling and uconn tourism advisory board chair denis kobayashi thank you to both of you for your tireless advocacy and and the work that you've done on behalf of our industry destination canada estimates estimates indicate that it could take the canadian tourism sector up to five years to recover with the yukon tourism development strategy as our foundation for a long-term sustainable profitable industry and the tourism relief and recovery plan as our guide out of co the covet 19 pandemic our goal is to return to the 2019 levels of tourism employment and revenue in yukon within three years yukon government is committed to extraordinary measures to ensure the survival and recovery of one of the most important drivers in our yukon's economy uconn's tourism industry is strong creative and resilient i know that by supporting business relief and by following the plan we will again be able to welcome the world so thank you i'll turn it over to my my friend neil hartling thank you minister maclean yukon tourism sector is one of the hardest hit by covid19 with over 400 companies and 4 000 employees yukon's 15 million dollar tourism relief and recovery plan shows government recognition of the value and important contributions of the tourism sector and its commitment to stabilizing and rebuilding it's a small investment that will yield big dividends for yukon's economy we're pleased to see our industry situation well represented in this plan as well as recognition of the continued need for engagement with the tourism sector and other partners throughout the development and implementation as this pandemic involves we know that maintaining a healthy tourism sector must not come at the cost of protecting the health and safety of uconners and we're proud to be leading the development and adoption of industry-wide health and safety protocols to ensure both resident and client support the tourism relief and recovery plan strategic investment in tourism business relief and in long-term recovery will enable the this critical economic sector to survive the pandemic and emerge stronger and more resilient than ever taya yukon will continue to help inform government's relief and response efforts we're confident that with this plan yukon's tourism industry will recover more quickly and we will once again welcome the world to our home turn it over now to denny kobayashi who's the chair of our yukon tourism advisory board thank you minister well we'd like to start on behalf of the yukon tourism advisory board we'd like to acknowledge and recognize that we're we're here today on the traditional lands of the taun coaching council on the kwanlin dun first nation uh minister maclean and our media friends it is my pleasure to be here today for the release of uconn's tourism relief and recovery plan i am here in my capacity as the independent chair of the yukon tourism advisory board one of the board's principal mandates is to monitor the yukon tourism development strategy to ensure that it remains relevant and takes into account the evolving nature of the industry locally nationally and internationally the board also provides advice to minister mclean on how to achieve industry government alignment in the implementation of the strategy in a manner that maximizes opportunities to enhance the sustainability of uconn's tourism industry our boy our board was appointed in march of this year and out of the gate minister mclean called me and said danny we really need the advisory board to focus on uh the relief and recovery programs as covid had had come and was impacting our industry already so we our our board immediately shifted from the tourism yukon tourism development strategy to look at the programs and talk to our industry and determined what they were needed as they were facing the impacts of the cove pandemic the board has worked diligently since that time to inform government's relief and response efforts including being engaged to provide input to the tourism relief and recovery plan that is being released today amongst our initial recommendations was that the health and safety of visitors and yukon residents be added as a core value to the uconn tourism development strategy which the minister has wholeheartedly supported the board has confirmed with the minister that a one-government approach is more important than ever as yukon's tourism industry prepares for the transition from relief to recovery the majority of our board members by the way own and operate their own tourism businesses and as such they are very aware of the dire circumstances that many businesses are facing as the impacts of covert on the tourism industry are prolonged i would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the board neil hartling is one of the members of our board for their passion commitment and incredible amount of time and energy they have given in the service of uconn's tourism in industry over the last several months the support that the board has received from minister mclean deputy minister val royal and her tourism team at tourism yukon is appreciated and valued by our board thank you thank you both the yukon tourism advisory board fully supports the tourism relief and recovery plan being released today yukon's tourism development strategy relief response and recovery planning are being heralded across the industry as leading the nation we are confident that this plan and yukon's tourism industry will recover more quickly and will once again welcome the world to our uconn thank you very much mr mclean thank you so much thank you all um and now we'll go to the reporters for questions uh in the order they called in so we have first up luke from ckrw luke go ahead yes i was wondering if there's a uh if there's a specific timeline for implementation of this plan and how that would look yes um the relief and recovery plan is a three-year plan so the the announcements that we made today the specific announcements will be for this fiscal year so that they'll they'll start this fiscal year but the plan will go out to two more years after that for the relief and recovery but the tourism development strategy where many of these initiatives and actions were taken from is a 10-year strategy and luke was there follow-up okay um we'll move over to philip from cbc uconn philip go ahead i think we've lost people okay uh let's try shounefm doug are you there maybe we've lost connection with them could be some technical difficulties can we try claudian from radio canada yeah yes so i i'm going to ask a big question vaccination is starting across the country could we see a return of tourists this summer and where could they be coming from and how much of a tourism season can people expect we are will continue to work with our chief medical officer around the border restrictions and the current state of emergency we renewed our state of emergency just last week so that remains in place again we'll continue to work with dr brendan hanley around his recommendations and then we'll take the recommendations and and work within government to to make those necessary decisions were early stage in terms of we had great news last week in terms of the vaccines and where we're at and how yukons situated within the the release of the vaccines but there's still a long road ahead and will continue as i've stated to work with dr brendan hanley around our safe reopening plan for uconn follow up claudia well it is and perhaps the other guests can can weigh in is that to say and do we have an idea of just how long the tourism industry might take to recover from this past these past months well in terms of recovery time i think the good news is that the yukon is very well positioned internationally at this point in time for a strong recovery our what we have to offer is in higher demand than ever the wide open uh clean uh pristine spaces are in great demand and it's exactly the sort of tonic that a post-covered world is going to be seeking out and so we're we're looking forward and all indications from uh industry uh uh businesses tourism industry businesses is that um uh where we should see um a relatively fast recovery did you want to add danny the only thing the yukon tourism advisory board who we talk to are industry operators within the within the yukon so what we will do as a board and our members are from across the yukon and across different sectors is we talk directly to tourism operators in the yukon and see what they're experiencing what their projections are but they're seeing with their cus customers we consolidate and bring that information back to our board and out of that we'll formulate recommendations to the minister so we're we're driven by what our industry wants uh wants us to to pass on to to minister mclean um i um you know in terms of recovery um this is a three-year plan uh destination canada estimates that as i've said in my opening statements that um travel will it'll take four to five years for the tourism sector to recover and with our plan and because we had the tourism development strategy in place that was a new plan from 2018 it really is a foundational document that um we worked on collectively so it's a whole of yukon uh tourism development strategy it's not a yukon only yukon government but it's become our i mean it it's a it's a working document it's been uh the again i think we're the envy of the country and now um drawing out of that uh tourism development strategy we've we've drawn out a number of actions that were in that strategy already so we're enacting them and under the advice of of our tourism advisory board and the tourism association of yukon and again we will our plan is to come back within three years to return to the 2019 visitation and tourism revenue that we had in that year and we haven't adjusted our goal around the goal of doubling revenue attributable to tourism over the next 10 years we've kept that goal in place because we believe we can get back to that okay um i guess should we try luke and okay let's uh luke from ckrw are you there uh yeah sorry i lost connection there i don't have any more questions okay uh philippe from cbc uconn uh yes thank you peace and recovery fund accounts for 15 million dollars of investment is that now all allocated or will there be more precision later about where the 15 million is spent yeah um we've made the investment of up to 15 million and um to now we've um allocated four million that will go to relief and with today's announcement and these initiatives for this fiscal year were allocating 450 000 towards these initiatives and we'll continue to work with our partners we'll continue to work with within our department to allocate the additional dollars and we will yeah it's an exciting announcement today i you know we've um really focused quickly on the relief programs and and now we're getting in to the recovery and i think the timing you know with um as the other questions came earlier about the the vaccine and you know people starting to think about travel again and uh so i think you know these these announcements today i mean we've been working closely with our partners to to ensure that um we have a good partnership going forward and that we're sharing the responsibility and really that is the the foundation of the um yukon tourism development strategy it was completely done in partnership and i think you will continue to hear and see us move forward with the actions within this plan in partnership do you want to add philip was there a follow-up question uh yes please uh in australia we've seen the concept of a vaccine passport it was mentioned by um ceo of qantas airlines in the news this idea that people would be free to visit only with the requirement of having been vaccinated would we consider that in yukon uh that's a good question thank you for that again we'll um take we'll be having a lot of conversations going forward in in terms of what that looks like for for um uconn and we'll continue again to work with our chief medical officer around recommendations um to keep you connor safe i mean i think you know that that's been our our our focus all along and we know that by keeping uconner safe we really the the tourism uh sector has been very impacted by that because of the lack of uh visitation that's allowed right now so we'll continue to work with dr brennan hanley and with our safe reopening plan and a lot of discussions to come but i would like to maybe ask neil to talk about the safe travel program that we're announcing today and the partnership that we're entering into with with taya and this program yes um uh taya and and along with um uconn tourism is embracing the um w uh wctt um uh standard um of um health safe travel program and um we've it's one of the best practices recognized in the industry around the world in terms of indicating to the traveling public that our operators are adhering to the best standards and uh and in fact striving to be innovative to uh to even increase those and so we're proud to see the yukon tourism industry out front uh embracing those standards and uh denny maybe you may want to part of one of the considerations that i asked the yukon tourism advisory board was to go back and look at the tourism development strategy and you had recommended or the board recommended an additional value to be added to to the tourism strategy and maybe you might want to just talk about that a bit yes thank you minister maclean early on when the board was looking at the tourism development strategy the the first thing that came to light was that strategy in its entirety was still relevant in spite of covid being here the strategies were solid they were relevant still some of the timing might have to be adjusted and some of the priorities might have to be tweaked but the one gap we saw and we heard this from uconners we heard it from yukon communities who are represented on our board we heard it from yukon first nations and a lot of uconners that safety was really important to them more importantly we heard from yukon tourism operators that the safety of their families and the safety of their guests was critical to their success as well so thus we wanted to add the value of the core part of the strategy of making sure that safety of visitors and uconners was a core part of that strategy moving forward and that was the uh amendment that we put forward for the minister's consideration which she uh hardly approved yeah thank thank you very much um and i think that yeah there i mean again all of these are you know getting folks ready to to um travel to uconn again and as the strategy unfolds we'll see a lot more um that will will be a result of this plan but also building resident support for tourism um it's 2.2 and 2.3 within the the plan and and i think that it it ties into the question that was just asked in in terms of we had a very high uh satisfaction from residents coming in to covet around 94 percent in fact so um and we know that there's a lot of fear of importing covet 19 to uconn and and residents are have been hesitant even during the opening of the bc bubble and so i think this question ties into that initiative that we're announcing today as well rebuilding resident support for tourism and again we'll be working with our partners around this in terms of doing the research and and developing a strategy so i'm not sure if you want to speak to that as well neil sure um uh the yukon's uh uh tourism industry association is undertaking a um support um uh survey and resident sentiment support survey and um and uh plan so that uh we can ensure that our actions moving forward um show that uh we're melding our best practices and communicating them uh as strongly as possible to to give the community confidence that we are we know that maintaining a healthy tourism sector must not come at the cost of protecting the health and safety of uconners and we're proud to be leading the development and adoption of industry-wide health and safety protocols to ensure both resident and client support great thank you okay do we have doug from shown fm on the line still doesn't sound like it okay well that will conclude this morning's live stream uh i want to thank minister mclean mr hartling and mr kobayashi for their time today and their remarks uh the tourism relief and recovery plan is now available on yukon.ca

thanks to everyone for joining us today yep thank you so much i'll just say thank you to our partners again neil and denny and the tourism and culture staff and for all of the the hard work it's been a long road um i do want to say that this plan certainly has um it has been a work in progress for the really for the last 10 months considering how will we come back what will that look like and so i i really um thank you very much for all of your your your work on this and also to the department of um economic development for all of the hard work that they put into um working um we of course we worked alongside them but all the relief programs the yukon business relief program um and and other initiatives that were led by economic development initially and so i just really want to say thank you um for all of all of the work and we still have a long road ahead of us but we will get there together in partnership so thank you you

2020-12-18 09:11

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