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Ontario tourism still not at pre-pandemic levels · Kvetch & Release

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  We're finding out some information from the lead tourism agency for the province of Ontario,
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  Destination Ontario, about how we are doing here in the province, where
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  we have found out from some of their data that's been released that border crossings
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  from the US in have increased fifty three percent last year compared to twenty twenty
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  two, but we were still twenty two percent lower than twenty nineteen figures.
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  That is pre pandemic levels, so we're not quite there. We are still
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  below those pre pandemic levels. That is affecting the industry as a whole,
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  the hospitality sector, which is of course, you know, integrated directly into
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  it as well. Joining me to discuss is someone who is very well aware
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  of the tourism sector, the hospitality sector, and how it relates to private
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  businesses that are doing their best to be involved in it all. Adriano Chotally,
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  co owner of Windsor Eats. Hey, how you doing? I love
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  that? John, Hey, I'm doing well. Thanks for joining me here.
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  So you know, I reached out to you. I wanted you to
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  come on to talk about this, get your thoughts about this, and right
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  off the bat you had questions for me and I was like, I'm not
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  the one to go to with the questions. They are the ones with the
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  answers. Come on, you go do it. But you were like,
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  no, that's not how it's going to work. You have to go do
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  the questions. So I did. I reached out to Destination Ontario and I
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  got a response back from their director of Strategic Engagement and Communications. My first
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  question that I asked again, this was the first thing you asked me,
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  does the health check include both commercial and tourist travel? The answer was no,
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  border crossings reported on the health Check report count travelers only. It excludes
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  other purposes such as immigrants and commercial crew members. So that's good. You
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  don't want those numbers getting conflated into it. The next thing you asked,
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  does the health check only count American vehicles coming into Canada or vehicles from other
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  countries too? And they said, we do count from international countries as well
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  as the US, which would be an international country as well. Albeit right
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  there. But then this final question, and this is the sort of sticking
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  point, Adriano, that we have, are Canadian vehicles crossing the border to
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  the US and returning to Canada counted? And the answer was yes, crossing
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  to the US and entering Canada are counted as two separate activities. Adriano,
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  what are your thoughts? I mean, I think you really. I mean,
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  any information is always useful, right, you can always at least have
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  a gauge or kind of a baseline based on previous years. But you also
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  have to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that you know,
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  Canadian visitors who are leaving Canada and then driving back are actually included in those
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  numbers, especially in a border city like Windsor where we have a very active,
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  growing and really booming city in Detroit in terms of travel and tourism and
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  being named, you know, one of the destinations in the United States a
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  couple of years ago with a lot of windsrights heading over there now being counted
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  as coming back over the border and possibly being included, saying look at these
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  visitors coming over. Yeah, I mean, you have to take it with
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  the grain of assault book, with the good and the bad. Isn't this
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  always the problem when it comes to these pesky figures around tourism. I mean,
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  it's not like this is a unique thing trying to peg down, like,
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  what are our numbers are they up, are they down from last year
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  to this year? And that has nothing to do with the pandemic, although
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  that threw a wrench into everything far more. And you know, because the
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  metrics are sometimes it's a hotel room, or we base it on how many
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  meals were served, it's never seemingly just like how many people actually came to
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  the region and what is the direct ROI is that frustrating for you operating in
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  this space, and you know, hearing people discuss this topic. Oh absolutely,
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  I mean at one hundred percent is frustrating. But I mean it's also
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  difficult to be able to track those numbers as well. I mean, the
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  best in for that we get as the one that we gather on our customers
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  ourselves, whether they're purchasing tickets for events or tours or anything. We try
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  to gather as much information as possible. And for us, that really does
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  that's the most reliable information that we can get because even if you're relying on
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  say hotel rooms, we have a lot of workers here that are dealing with
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  say the you know, the battery plan or the bridge or anything that are
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  being housed in hotel rooms or even you know, refugees that are coming over
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  there staying in hotel rooms. Occupancy rate is going to is going to be
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  affected by that, by how many rooms are are available, and you can
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  go by red par as well. But it's it is tough gathering the information,
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  which we try to rely on whatever we can gather ourselves as much as
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  possible. And I mean, by all indications for us anyways, American visitors
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  are drastically lower than they have been in previous years since the pandemic. They're
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  still there's still at low levels, and that was tough because they were already
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  at low levels quite frankly before the pandemic compared to you know, decades prior.
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  What's it actually like on the ground. I know I ask you this
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  every couple of months, but I'm always curious to see through the eyes of
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  people that are you know, still operating in the hospitality sector and the tourism
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  sector, because things have not gotten back to normal. No, they're definitely
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  not back to normal. And I mean whatever normal is going to be now,
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  who knows. Things have been changing so quickly and so drastically over the
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  last little bit that it's really tough to gauge because customers have it changed so
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  much during the pandemic, and they're still changing pretty rapidly, especially with you
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  know, the economy and inflation. The way things are, it really is
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  a tough to gauge, I know, for us it, I mean it's
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  really difficult. We've had to change how we operate. We've eliminated a lot
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  of our tours over the last couple of years, knowing that having to rely
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  on whether it's a local base or even the travelers coming in, those numbers
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  aren't necessarily where they need to be to make it worthwhile to be able to
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  operate tours. So we've scaled back a lot on what we're offering and kind
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  of I guess you can say, operating bare bones until things start getting better,
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  which we're hoping figures cross. Even though that they're saying the economy may
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  weaken in the next little little bit, we're keeping our fingers crossed that at
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  least this summer we may see a little a little bit of sunlight, you
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  know, peaking through the crowd. I mean, we anticipated four to five
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  years, possibly six years for things to start coming around, and it kind
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  of looks like that was holding true. Sadly, that's so tough like just
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  just hearing that it breaks my heart. No, it does. It doesn't
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  break my heart because I'm not affected by it financially. But I say these
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  kind of things out allowed to make you feel better because you're dealing with this,
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  But I will say you will be affected because a lot of a lot
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  of people's you know, favorite businesses, favorite restaurants, things that they love
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  doing in the city. You look around the province, major festivals are setting
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  down across the province, even across Canadas, and that's a result of all
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  this, you know, all this stuff that's happening because you know, it's
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  not just they, you know, ticket holders coming in now, it's also
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  funders and you know, uh, what is it? Sponsors, sponsors,
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  advertisers or sponsors are saying, my brain went a little dead there for a
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  second, but sponsors dollars are are dried up as well as a result.
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  So it's it's like a domino effect that just you know, it keeps going
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  one after another and affecting all these all these things that people love. Well,
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  yeah that what comes Frond right now is just for last the festival.
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  Absolutely it has been canceled. And even the taste of dan Forth in Toronto's
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  was a major festival was canceled as well. Yeah, and you know,
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  we've seen our share of festivals even in our parts as well, which have
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  you know, been your for whiles and then gone off or come back in
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  different forms and then go off to become different things. It sounds like I'm
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  describing a phoenix rising from ash is quite frankly with that. But I guess
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  that is that that's the perseverance though of really the hospitality and the tourism industry
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  is that you've just got to wait it out sometimes. Oh absolutely, And
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  I believe I was. I was having a conversation with someone just actually yesterday.
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  I believe that was saying, you know, the price of a burger
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  has increased so much, and and it's I mean, it has, but
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  really, in my opinion, the cost of dining out really isn't anywhere in
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  the year where it should be and realistically should be based on what all the
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  expenses are. The profit margin for restaurants is probably you know, like five
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  percent if you're doing things you know, all right, and that's that's like
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  minimal room for error, and so like if things were if things were really
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  accounted for and put into the price and that, you know, and that
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  was reflected in the price on the menu. Cost for menu items should be
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  much higher, but of course customers would never pay for that, so they
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  are what they are. I remember I was speaking with you about this with
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  Phil from Metso the last time you guys were both in the studio together,
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  and you had said, quite frankly, whenever you're buying something at a restaurant,
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  they should have probably raised the price of it, like a year ago.
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  Yeah, oh absolutely, and a year ago doesn't even doesn't even state
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  it. That was just being caught like they are artificially lowered. And that's
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  just because you know, there's only a certain amount that customers are willing to
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  go out. But at the same time, you know, whether people want
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  to admit it or not. And I hate saying this because I'm in the
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  industry, but dining out is a luxury, you know, and going out
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  to a restaurant is a luxury, and there's a lot of costs associated with
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  the restaurant, you know, putting together one single dish, it's not just
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  that dish, it's everything else around it. And that creates that atmosphere and
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  that on Beyonce in the service that that goes into making that dish. It's
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  a complex industry. I am glad. I'm not even tertiarily associated with it
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  anymore from what I used to be, but I do have so much respect
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  and appreciation for those who still are in it, because you know, I
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  love going out to the places that I still love going out to, and
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  I don't want to lose out on those. So Adriana, thank you so
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  much for your perspective on this and for helping to break down a little bit
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  about you know, border crossings and what it actually means in terms of tourism
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  from your perspective. Yeah. Just you know, sometimes you just got to
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  smile and get through the rest of the day. Absolutely, you just got
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  to continue being positive while and finding new ways to come up with with ways
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  to generate funds. Yeah and yeah, and fun and you know sometimes fun
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  memes are a great way to do that. I find sharing those back and
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  forth always. Adrian, I thank you so much for your time. Thank
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  you, John