(No Like Yet)
Published on : Saturday, December 5, 2020
Tourism operators and businesses received a total of around $3 million through the N.W.T.’s recent so-called Grit fund – Growth and Recovery by Investing in Tourism.
The fund was introduced in August via a partnership between the federal and territorial governments. It was meant for assisting tourism operators for getting over the impact in their industry by the pandemic-related decline in travel.
More than 90 individuals and companies received funding, said the territorial government. Contributions averaged just over $31,000 each.
Grit funding is a one-off program. Applications closed in October.
The tourism industry is among one of the hardest-hit sectors of the territory’s economy. Hundreds of tourism jobs were lost this year said the operators.
As of October, almost 1,000 full-time and part-time jobs were lost as per a survey conducted by the industry. Around 70 per cent of operators said that their sales and revenue have halved or have become worse.
Two in five businesses said that they had closed, either temporarily or for good.