VANCOUVER The B.C. government has announced an infusion of millions of dollars in additional funding to help small and medium businesses stay afloat until step three of the province’s reopening plan. Officials say the money will fund the Small- and Medium-Sized Business Recovery Grant until July 1. “We built this grant program for the business community,” said Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of jobs, in a news release. The government says the grant program has helped 10,000 B.C. businesses, with more than 41 per cent of the money going to tourism-related businesses. “This additional support was a call to action from the Tourism Task Force to provide relief to people and businesses that were struggling,” said Melanie Mark, minister of tourism, in the same release.
Posted:
May 27, 2021
BSAFE training aimed to relieve visitors
The provincial government is launching a COVID-19 safety certificate program, called BSAFE, for workers in the tourism and hospitality sectors to increase consumer confidence as businesses start to return to more normal operations in accordance with BC’s Restart plan.
BSAFE stands for BC Safety Assured For Everyone.
A Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport media release says the province has allocated $640,000 to develop the program and provide the training for workers in the tourism and hospitality sectors. B.C. organizations participating in the training program will receive a decal to make it easy for visitors to identify that staff have taken BSAFE training.
B.C.-wide program aims to support anchor tourism organizations
SHARE ON: Premier John Horgan. (Supplied by the Province of British Columbia)
The province is offering financial relief to anchor tourism attractions and bus companies, to help them weather the pandemic.
They can apply for funding through B.C.’s new $50 million Major Anchor Attractions Program.
Examples of criteria and eligible organizations include:
major anchor attractions in urban centres that receive 75,000 or more visitors per year – eligible for up to $1 million.
major anchor attractions in rural areas that receive 15,000 or more visitors per year – eligible for up to $500,000.
tour bus companies that serve 30,000 or more passengers per year – eligible for up to $500,000.