The Explore NB tourism incentive program is being reinstated this summer, but this time it will include all Atlantic provinces.
In an attempt to boost the suffering tourism industry, the provincial government is offering all New Brunswickers a 20 per cent rebate on all eligible overnight travel expenses of up to $1,000.
As the border reopens, the rebate will be available for all overnight travel in any Atlantic province from May 27th to October 31st.
The program also got a budget increase of $1.5 million this year, for a total budget of $4.5 million.
Carol Alderdice, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick says that last year the program brought in $17 million, which helped support the 30 to 40,000 New Brunswickers who work in the tourism industry.
“Our hotel and restaurant operators have struggled the most,” says Alderdice. “With restaurants only being able to operate at half capacity for over a year, and we all know how low the margins are in this sector, they need our help more than ever.”
Tourism, Heritage and Culture Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace admits that last year’s application process was flawed, with many New Brunswickers waiting months for their rebate.
She promises that this year will go more smoothly, since applications will be processed as received (starting July 5th) instead of all at once.
“We built the program last summer very quickly, and we had a deadline,” says Minister Scott-Wallace. “We had over 25,000 submissions and to deal with all at once… Along with processing submissions as they are received, which is going to eliminate the backlog we experienced last summer, we’re also allowing people to to submit multiple claims. That wasn’t permitted last year. So what that means is a family can go on vacation or an individual can go on vacation, and the maximum is still $1,000 in total claims, for a total rebate of $200. But if you were to vacation, the first of the summer and then vacation the end of the summer, you can submit twice.”
When asked if this initiative is enough to support the struggling industry, Alderdice’s the short answer is “no.”
“Our tourism operators still absolutely need support, that is why we are advocating with the tourism industry association of Canada and all the other associations across the province and territories to make sure that the wage subsidy and the rent relief continue at its present level until the end of the year. Just because we may be fortunate enough to go green in August, does not mean that tourism is going to be okay. You have to remember that last summer, all the regions reported between 50 and 100% less revenue. So that’s an all the loans they had to get and all the things that they had to do to survive, they will absolutely need to continue to receive the federal support that they’re getting now.”
As for the future, Alderdice is not sure how long it will take for tourism to recover.
“I don’t think anybody knows what the industry is going to look like moving forward…There are stats that show that we will not recover to our present level much before 2023-2024, so we’re hoping that that it won’t take that long.”
New Brunswickers can apply for the rebate program starting July 5th.
