When describing this summer, words like different, strange, stressful, busy and challenging are frequently used BUT the words grateful and fortunate are most top-of-mind for me.
Tofino has been blessed with visitors this summer when most destinations have not been – and for this we are both fortunate and grateful.
Despite the loss of business in spring, many Tofino businesses and their staff are now facing a more positive future than first anticipated, thanks to the drawing power of Tofino’s natural assets and excellent business operators, attributes that we cannot take for granted. Yet, even with the strong July and August visitation, some businesses will continue to suffer and will need our collective support to weather this storm.
Tourism in the time of COVID-19 has been riddled with anxiety and surprising twists and turns. Many unforeseen challenges arose and the business community, not-for-profit organizations, individual residents, the District of Tofino, local health care providers, the Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Tofino rose up also to help address them. We’ve learned that balancing this far-reaching public health issue and the need for public safety with economic and environmental sustainability is very difficult to achieve, and is measured differently by each person.
Although no one knows what’s ahead, we do know that our new insights and learnings will inform future actions. Over the coming months, there will be careful reflection and planning as we all do our parts to ensure that issues are resolved, our tourism economy remains healthy, and those businesses that did not fare well are supported.
Below are the year-to-date Resort occupancy statistics.
