N.L. tourism bounces back, but recovery still cramped by COVID-19

Al Mitchell's wife, Pam Owen, had a birthday coming up, and he wanted to make it memorable.

In pre-pandemic times, he likely would have booked a trip to California for the couple, who live in Vancouver.

But with U.S. borders still closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitchell looked east, remembering his enjoyable visits to Canada's Atlantic provinces during his days as an athlete.

Weeks later, they were sitting on a deck outside a Water Street restaurant in St. John's, raving about the scenery, the people they've met, and the food.

"I love the spirit of St. John's. We're just ecstatic that we came. It's been fantastic so far," said Mitchell.

Owen says she's thrilled to be celebrating her birthday in St. John's, more than 7,000 kilometres away from her home.

"The people are wonderful. The food is fantastic. The fish and chips are great," Owen said.

Tourists feeling liberated

Mitchell and Owen were some of the large numbers of visitors exploring downtown St. John's and Signal Hill during a recent warm and cloudless September morning, many feeling liberated by the fact they are now permitted to travel throughout Canada after months of pandemic-prompted lockdowns.

"I'm speechless when it comes to these views. I'm lucky if I get a lake," Amanda Maxwell, an Ottawa resident who said a visit to Newfoundland and Labrador had long been on her wish list.

"The people in the restaurant business down on Water Street have been treating me like royalty. It's been more than wonderful."

After months of tight travel restrictions that sent shock waves throughout the province's travel and tourism sector, Newfoundland and Labrador opened its borders to non-essential travellers from the rest of Canada on July 1.

According to officials with Marine Atlantic and St. John's International Airport, the reopening had an immediate effect.

"We were at capacity for many crossings throughout the summer," said Darrell Mercer, spokesperson for Marine Atlantic, which operates the ferry service between Nova Scotia and the island of Newfoundland.

Marine Atlantic saw a sharp increase in business this summer, with visitors pouring into Port aux Basques and Argentia.

Between July 1 and Sept. 16, just under 117,000 passengers used the ferry service, compared with just 61,000 during the same period last year, when pandemic restrictions were holding society in a much tighter grip.

That's still well short of pre-pandemic times. In 2019, passengers numbers exceeded 160,000 during the same timeframe.

Mercer says this summer's numbers would have been higher, if not for Transport Canada-mandated rules restricting Marine Atlantic to 50 per cent capacity, or just 375 passengers, per crossing.

"We had a lot of people that wanted to travel; we didn't necessarily have the space to carry them," he said.

Mercer said Marine Atlantic had to balance the high demand for bookings with the capacity restrictions mandated by Transport Canada.

"We think we met a happy balance so we could still deliver the service we wanted to deliver, while protecting against the spread of COVID-19."

It was a similar trend at St. John's International Airport, said spokesperson Lisa Bragg.

"Overall we're seeing more passengers come through," she said, compared with 2020.

More than 85,000 passengers passed through the airport in August, which is up about 50 per cent from last year, but well short of the 180,000 passengers reported in August 2019.

By October, Bragg expects the airport will be back to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic traffic volumes, as airlines add more seat capacity to meet the growing demand for air travel.

But it will take three to five years before the airport recovers financially, Bragg said, adding that the authority continues to borrow to ensure there are safe and efficient operations.

Ordinarily, the airport welcomes 1.5 million travellers annually, but that figure fell to just 356,000 last year.

"We're still a pretty lean organization with safety at the forefront, but we're still an organization that is doing more with less," Bragg said.

Meanwhile, tourism operators in St. John's seem encouraged by the gradual recovery.

"For two and a half months we haven't stopped, and we just hope it continues," said Brendan Quinlan, owner of Legend Tours.

Quinlan has been in the tour business for a quarter-century, and just prior to last winter's lockdown, opened a gift shop on Water Street in St. John's. The business managed to stay afloat long enough to benefit from this summer's reopening, Quinlan said.

"A tsunami struck the island from July 1 of this year … in the form of visitors," said Quinlan.

"I know of a number of people that have come in and told us they've bought properties while they've been here, and they're planning to come and spend some months each year."

Meanwhile, Quinlan expects a busy fall and is confident that better days await.

His biggest wish now is cruise ship industry recovery, and he's waiting for those floating resorts to make their way into St. John's harbour once again.

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