Our industry is evaporating.
That is what the president of the Saskatchewan Hotels and Hospitality Association is saying as they do what they can to deal with the effects of COVID-19 and the impact it is having.
President and CEO Jim Bence says this is something that is just hard to fathom.
“This is the worst thing anyone has ever seen from a tourism perspective.” Bence said. “When you look at our membership which is a pretty large basket, the layoffs are just staggering.
Bence says there are normally 63,000 people in Saskatchewan employed in the hospitality sector, but that number has been sliced by nearly half with more perhaps coming.
He adds hotels are seeing very few rooms being occupied right now as the industry takes a complete 180.
That being said, Bence is confident that once things stabilize that the Saskatchewan spirit will show and that the industry will get up off the canvas and start fighting again. Like many others though, he has no idea when that stabilization will come.