Tourism operators face heavy debt, even as business roars back

Tourism has come roaring back from pandemic lows, but operators say the sector has yet to reach pre-COVID levels and debt remains a hefty burden for thousands of small businesses across the country.

She and her husband began running ecotourism outfit Maple Leaf Adventures out of Vancouver about a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks devastated international travel in 2001.

The rebound was relatively quick. Fallout from COVID-19 has proven much more prolonged.

“The pandemic of course was incredibly tumultuous and scary, as it was, I think, for most tour businesses in Canada,” said Gordon, who runs week-long sojourns on a schooner, converted tug boat and catamaran along the Pacific coast.