Latest News

A new action plan aims to help revive business events and conferences in B.C.

B.C. tourism business events, workforce support receive grants

Published 2:46 PST, Wed February 16, 2022

—

Business events and workforce support initiatives, such as hiring and retaining employees, in the tourism sector will receive more than $9.3 million over the next two years as part of the Tourism Recovery Initiatives Action Plan.

In response to the pandemic, the province is investing in the restart of the business events and conferences sector, which was one of the hardest hit—reporting 85 to 100 per cent in lost revenue since the pandemic began—and may be one of the last to recover. This sector makes significant contributions to the provincial economy: on average, meetings and conference delegates spend 40 to 70 per cent more than leisure travellers and international conference delegates spend up to four times more.

"B.C. is known the world over for our incredible facilities and the diverse hosting experiences our province offers for business events and meetings delegates,” said Tourism Richmond chief executive officer Nancy Small, who is also the chair of the BC Destination Marketing Organization. “This investment from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport will go a long way to support this important part of the visitor economy, which has been essentially shut down through the effects of the pandemic. This incremental funding will assist destination marketing organizations to do what we do best—attract these events to our province and help get people back to work in the industry they are so passionate about."

The new Business Events and Conferences Restart Fund will provide up to $5 million this fiscal year and up to $3 million next year to help restart business travel. Funding will be provided to city destination management organizations that were significantly involved in attracting and hosting business events, conferences and exhibitions before the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible organizations will be invited to submit proposals to access this funding.

This investment will generate economic activity by drawing international visitors, who tend to spend more and stay longer, and often travel to other smaller destinations once their business travel is complete. Restarting business events also provides greater economic benefits for the services that support the sector, such as food services, audio-visual companies, event rental companies, event planners, and transportation companies that will subsequently benefit from the return of large conferences to the province.

To help address serious challenges to recruit and retain workers in tourism and hospitality, the province is investing in human resources support for this sector. More than $1.3 million will fund dedicated human resources specialists in five tourism regions for two years. In partnership with the tourism industry's human resources association, go2HR, these individuals will provide expert advice to tourism operators in each region, including workforce strategy, recruitment, onboarding, compensation, training, health and safety, and interpreting employment legislation.

In the coming weeks, go2HR will start recruiting on Vancouver Island and in the Thompson Okanagan, Northern BC, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast and Kootenay Rockies tourism regions. The model was developed based on the success of the Tourism Regional HR specialist position that was created by Destination BC in the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains region in 2021.

The Tourism Recovery Initiatives Action Plan is B.C.'s comprehensive plan to support the survival, recovery and growth of the sector.