For most of our tourism industry, our businesses have been closed or operating at much-reduced capacity as we all work hard to follow the direction of Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Glenn Madzuik, President and CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association
Over the initial few weeks, our team at the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) personally connect with over 800 industry stakeholders to understand their issues and concerns and to feed those up daily to the Provincial and Federal Governments. Through these conversations, It became clear that many stakeholders needed support in navigating the various assistance programs that were becoming available, understanding where they were eligible, and what steps needed to be taken to obtain the many opportunities for relief or other benefits.
Together with the British Columbia Regional Tourism Secretariat representing the 5 Regional Destination Management Organizations (RDMO) in the Province and our strong partners at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, go2HR, Indigenous Tourism BC, Tourism Industry Association of BC, Community DMOs and Destination BC, we activated a new Tourism Program for our industry stakeholders. This work has seen our organization at TOTA pivoting efforts to provide one on one direct support we heard industry asking for.
This initiative is in place for the long term to help today and as we move into slow reopening, recovery, and toward a path of resiliency. To learn more about the program and or to register your organization to work with one of our advisors (at no cost) please go to Tourism Resiliency Progam – Thompson Okanagan
On behalf of myself, our board of Directors, and our entire TOTA team I would like to take a moment to thank both the Provincial Minister, the Honourable Lisa Beare and Federal Minister, the Honourable Melanie Joly for their tireless efforts to find the relief assistance necessary to provide and protect our Tourism Industry today and for the future.
Glenn Mandziuk is TOTA President & CEO