Tourism operators and businesses received a total of approximately $3 million through the NWT’s recent so-called Grit fund – Growth and Recovery by Investing in Tourism.
The fund was introduced in August through a partnership between the federal and territorial governments. It was designed to help tourism operators overcome the damage done to their industry by the pandemic-related drop-off in travel.
More than 90 individuals and companies received funding, the territorial government said on Thursday. Contributions averaged just over $31,000 each.
Grit funding was a one-off program. Applications closed in October.
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The tourism industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors of the territory’s economy. Hundreds of tourism jobs were lost this year according to various operators.
As of October, nearly 1,000 full-time and part-time jobs had been lost according to a survey conducted by the industry.
Around 70 percent of operators said their sales and revenue had halved or worse.
Two in five businesses responding to the survey said they had closed, either temporarily or for good.
