Top 3 Issues Impacting Accommodators this Week:

Our industry continues to struggle with the fallout from recent flooding and mudslides as road closures impact critical travel corridors and businesses across British Columbia.

Today, Transportation Minister Rob Fleming announced that Highways that connect Metro Vancouver to the interior of the province will remain closed to non-essential traffic until January; this includes Highways 3, 5 and 99.

We understand the significant issues this poses to our accommodation sector, ski resorts, and greater tourism communities, particularly in advance of the holiday season.

The BCHA along with our sector associations have developed a communications toolkit aimed to support industry operators and help them navigate these changing circumstances and understand the resources that are available to them. The toolkit will be shared tomorrow and we encourage you to share it amongst your network once distributed.

We look forward to sharing further details in our Communications Toolkit and encourage all British Columbians to stay up to date on travel restrictions through Drive BC

TOTA, Destination BC, the Province of B.C. and our industry associations are concerned about the impact of these events on tourism stakeholders and businesses.

Officials at Vancouver International Airport and the Government of Canada want to make sure all travellers know what is required of them both departing and arriving at the airport.

Airport officials, with direction from the government of Canada, will be conducting COVID-19 testing for all fully vaccinated passengers arriving from an international destination at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) expect for those coming directly from the United States. This will be in addition to a number of existing travel requirements in place at the airport.

For more information about COVID-19 testing at YVR - click here.

The BC Hotel Association, along with the BC Meetings and Events Industry Working Group, and Tourism Industry Association of BC, has worked together to advocate for the distinction of 'business events' from 'public' and 'social' gatherings : https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/info/restrictions

A final note on dancing: There is still no dancing allowed unless it is a performance. There have been conversations and advocacy around this issue, however, we do not expect that restriction to be lifted in the near future. Things are still in a tenuous place and while they had hoped that all

restrictions would be lifted by now, the PHO is not ready to remove this one.

In addition to province-wide mask mandate, Food and Liquor Serving Premises public order, and Gatherings and Events public order, the Fraser and Northern Health regions have additional measures in place.

For more information on restrictions IN British Columbia visit below

HAC President & CEO, Sysie Grynol appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance today to discuss the importance of targeted support for Canada’s hotels, and the need to pass Bill C2 without delay.

“With the passage of this Bill (#C2), we will have an industry still standing on the other side of this pandemic, and we cannot wait to welcome the world back to Canada,”

If you have not done so already, please complete the below survey. This survey is critical to our advocacy work surrounding our labour crisis. It is important that we have as many operators possible participate.

Please note: individual and business information will be kept confidential.

Destination Canada released a new report, Tourism’s Big Shift: Key Trends Shaping the Future of Canada’s Tourism Industry. The report identifies the key trends that will have the greatest impact on Canada’s travel and tourism industry in the next one to three years.

Discover additional resources and tools here.

It is important to note that if you are selling liquor with takeout or delivery, it must be sold with a meal. (Note: this is separate from and does not apply to licensees with an actual off-sales endorsement on their license.)

While a meal has not been clearly defined by government, we ask that licensees use their common sense and judgment when it comes to defining a meal. For instance, a bag of chips or chocolate bar clearly does not meet the intention of the permission.

Licensees should also not be setting up self-serve, retail-looking spaces in their establishments. Compliance & Enforcement Inspectors are reporting that some Food and Liquor Primary licensees are setting up retail spaces where liquor is displayed in open refrigerated floor cabinets or open shelves accessible to patrons for self-service, which is contrary to the purpose of the license and inconsistent with the intention of the provision.   

As previously noted, government will not allow this policy to unintentionally create over 8000 new liquor retailers. Liquor primaries and food primaries are prohibited from acting like, or promoting themselves, as liquor retailers. Government also recently extended the moratorium on new LRS licenses until 2032. 

For more information on the policy please refer to the Terms and Conditions Handbooks and the following policy directives:

·   Policy Directive 21-04: policy change made permanent

·   Policy Directive 21-14: permission to sell cocktails

·   Policy Directive 21-21: permission to sell unmixed drinks

Tickets are available at www.bchospitality5050.ca from Dec. 8^th 2021 to Jan. 3^rd, 2022 and make great gifts for coworkers and employees! 

View the full survey results here.

READ TODAY: http://ow.ly/sS6i50H5zQL

For more information about each award click here.

The deadline to submit a nomination is January 14, 2022.

Please be advised that applications for the B.C. Increased Employment Incentive must be received by December 31, 2021.

The B.C. Increased Employment Incentive is a one-time refundable tax credit for employers which encouraged the creation of new jobs for B.C. workers or increases in payroll for existing low- or middle-income employees in the last quarter ending December 31, 2020.

The tax credit is calculated at 15% of the amount that the employer’s eligible remuneration for the last quarter ending December 31, 2020 exceeds the employer’s eligible remuneration for the quarter ending September 30, 2020.

For more information, including eligibility requirements and access to the application, see below:

BCHA President & CEO, Ingrid Jarrett commented on industry's hope for swift passage of Bill C2. BC Hotel Association CEO Ingrid Jarrett told BIV that the bill will be a lifeline to hotel operators, and that she hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government can pass the bill quickly. 

'Too restrictive': Restaurants Canada calling for changes to federal COVID-19 support programs A Canadian restaurant organization is calling for federal assistance as the sector continues to struggle amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Restaurants are key to reviving main streets across Canada and feeding our country’s economic recovery, but first they need to survive,” president and CEO Todd Barclay said in a statement. Read more.

B.C.’s Coquihalla Highway could reopen to commercial traffic by early instead of late January after November’s disastrous flooding and landslides, Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said Thursday. More than 100 pieces of heavy equipment are staged along the major route, Fleming said, and crews are making “tremendous progress.” Read more.

American Hotel & Lodging Association: 86% of U.S. Hotels Say Supply Chain Issues Impacting Operations 

More Than 70% Experiencing Increased Costs, Lack of Availability for Key Items Read More

Hospitality Financial Leadership - Top 10 List of Productivity Killers in Your Hotel - By David Lund In your hotel it is a never-ending journey that requires your constant and continuous attention. In this piece I am going to highlight the Top 10 List to avoid and best practices to adopt so you can stay in shape. And remember, just like guest services and your colleagues, your productivity will never be perfect, but you can always benefit from a regular work out. Read more

Finance, Technology and Service Will Dominate Next Year Read more

New restrictions obviously mean potential challenges for the hotel industry, and as we have seen throughout the pandemic, every class of hotel can be affected differently. In this latest piece, we look at how Luxury class hotels have performed around the globe, especially in more recent months. Read more.

Congratulations to both Mike McNaney and Gerry Bruno on their new chapters.

Join us for the 2022 BC Tourism & Hospitality Conference as we 'Kickstart the Comeback' and gather in-person to learn, tackle issues, forge new relationships, and work toward resiliency in the face of one of the hardest years in our sector's history.

Need help bringing on new staff? Hiring students is a great way to build your team for short-term needs and to build a talent pipeline for the long term! And now you can access a wage subsidy of up to $7,500 through Propel, a brand new Student Work Placement Program (SWPP)!

Propel is offered through Tourism HR Canada, a Canadian organization with a mandate aimed at building a world-leading tourism workforce. Propel is specifically designed to support the tourism and hospitality sector.

Learn more about how your organization can take advantage of this federally funded wage subsidy program and how to bring on students from hospitality and tourism management, culinary arts, and other programs from across the province at this info session on Monday, November 15th at 2:00pm (Pacific).

Brought to you by the Talent MATCH Program, a collaboration between go2HR, the BC Museums Association, the BC Alliance for Arts + Culture, and the Association for Co-operative Education & Work Integrated Learning, this info session will feature Rachel George and Joe Baker from Propel, who will explain how the program works and how to apply.

This info session is free, but you must register for it here.

Want more information on hiring students? Visit the Talent MATCH webpage for more details or contact Project Manager Debby Reis at TalentMatch@acewilbc.ca.