Last January, you published an article stating that the tourism industry was vulnerable to climate change, especially coastal areas. In recent months, COVID-19 has weakened the industry and its various players. What is your view on the state of the industry at present?

The notion of a tourism industry is misleading. There are several very heterogeneous tourism clusters and at different scales. International tourism is still on hold. Every country on the planet currently has some form of travel restriction, either entry or exit. And I think it's going to take some time before we get back to international tourism as we knew it.

As for national, regional or local tourism, it should be noted that with the exception of Montreal and Quebec, which are international tourism hubs, 50% of Quebec's regions are visited by Quebec tourists. In some of them, it rises to 80%. So yes, there will be losses, but we can assume that Quebecers who normally go abroad will spend their "leisure" budget in Quebec.

Are there certain sectors that are likely to be more affected than others?

Mass tourism that offers redundant tourist experiences at low cost is likely to be hit hard. Their target customers are more affected by the economic restrictions of the current crisis.

My hypothesis is that mid-range services are the ones that will have more difficulty because of the large masses of people they attract and that scare customers a lot in the context of COVID-19. In comparison, large services have the space to respect health measures and the smaller ones will perhaps inspire a feeling of security.

Finally, there are all the cancellations in the event industry, in professional or amateur sports, which have immense repercussions on the industry. We only have to think of the hockey tournaments that took place in different regions of Quebec, during which parents spent large sums of money on accommodation, catering and other things.

Which ones are doing better?

From what I hear, the Gaspésie region seems set to have an excellent season. Mainly visited by Quebecers and francophones from New Brunswick, it has not had many cases of COVID-19. Other tours such as the Tour du lac Saint-Jean are likely to have a lot of appeal this summer. The Manoir Richelieu in Charlevoix is already fully booked for the season. High-end destinations that offer packages and have a reputation for quality service are among the best served in the current crisis.

They say that opportunities emerge from every crisis. Have some tourism businesses taken advantage of the downtime to innovate or transform?

One of the things that has been accelerated by the crisis is the automation of part of the tourist service. We are seeing hotels develop contactless check-in systems. In Japan, there are restaurants that operate using vending machines or are serviced by robots. This service-free model already exists in some airports, where you order on an iPad. These trends will accelerate in the coming years, and we will have to see how we will recover the social component of the tourist experience. When there is a vaccine or drugs to slow the mortality rate, these innovations will remain for health and efficiency reasons related to labor costs.

Have certain companies operating in the tourism sector particularly stood out in recent months in the context of COVID?

If only through their leadership, Le Germain hotels have been in a very dynamic and proactive mode since the beginning of the pandemic. Its leader, Christiane Germain, has been very transparent in the public space regarding her strategic approach. Moreover, all the hotels that collaborated with hospitals to receive essential workers were one step ahead in understanding and managing distancing and health measures.

Then, the restaurant industry changed its discourse in a desire to feed the local population, to simplify menus to be closer to their needs, to reduce their inventories to manage fewer losses. I am thinking in particular of the Côté Est bistro in Kamouraska which did well with a presence on social networks and a “take out” formula. The establishment created a gourmet market space with prepared dishes and products from their suppliers. People could reserve and pick up their order.

The Granby Zoo took advantage of the lockdown to develop informative and educational material. They made capsules with biologists that teachers were able to use with their students. It was very smart to combine a tourism promotion approach with a form of public service. I believe that in the medium term, this will have a positive impact on their traffic.

Next week, discover the tourism entrepreneurs who have received a wave of love amid COVID-19.