Midway through Tourism Week (May 24-31), NWT tourism operators are trying their best to be optimistic about the summer season after tourist activity has decreased drastically. 

Foreign tourism arrivals began to fall in February and March as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, and the closing of the NWT border saw mass cancellations of bookings by Canadian tourists. 

RELATED REPORTING: Virus-related tourism dropoff slams local businesses

Greg Robertson, a fishing guide and owner of Bluefish Services, has lost all of his client bookings for June and July and calls the current state of the NWT tourism sector a SA国际影视传媒渄isaster.SA国际影视传媒� 

SA国际影视传媒淭he only hope is that maybe ISA国际影视传媒檒l pick up some locals but we donSA国际影视传媒檛 have the protocol (from the GNWT) yet. How do we go about operating in the current situation? I canSA国际影视传媒檛 be six feet away (from clients) because I work in a boat,SA国际影视传媒� he said. 

It's too soon to determine whether bookings by NWT residents could give him some relief because usually residents take trips with visitors from outside of the territory. 

SA国际影视传媒淚SA国际影视传媒檓 just hoping that (the GNWT) will come up with some guidelines to follow and that theySA国际影视传媒檒l be practical for us to operate,SA国际影视传媒� he said. 

For Dan Wong, owner of Jackpine Paddle, which takes clients on canoe and kayak adventure trips, this summer will mark a stark change for the young company. 

He started operations four years ago and clients grew steadily over the last three summers. 

But the loss of bookings for this summer represents an 85 per cent reduction in business, he said. 

SA国际影视传媒淢ost of our growth had come from international tourists and running very adventurous canoeing and kayak trips. The (local) market here doesn't have a lot of people. We had to compete internationally to grow. We canSA国际影视传媒檛 do that this summer,SA国际影视传媒� Wong explained. 

While itSA国际影视传媒檚 difficult to be optimistic with such a reduced client base, he's trying focus on the element of growth in staycations by NWT residents, many of whom would like to take a summer trip somewhere in Canada but would rather not go into self-isolation for two weeks when returning to the NWT. 

SA国际影视传媒淭hereSA国际影视传媒檚 been more interest than normal from NWT residents,SA国际影视传媒� Wong said, adding that Jackpine will also be able to run its youth summer adventure camps once it receives approval of its safety protocol plan from the chief public health officer. 

SA国际影视传媒淭he camps will start in about six weeks so we still have time to prepare for them. ThereSA国际影视传媒檚 a lot of pandemic paperwork to go through. We expect to get approval for that. These are all approved activities under phase one (of the Emerging Wisely recovery plan) because theySA国际影视传媒檙e outdoors.SA国际影视传媒� 

Few people are more aware of the scale of the tourism decline than Cathie Bolstad, chief executive officer of NWT Tourism. 

Considering that in 2018-2019 more than 120,000 visitors came to the NWT, a pivot to local trips by NWT residents canSA国际影视传媒檛 replace the lost revenue that thousands of travellers this summer would have brought to the territory, Bolstad explained. 

However, she said global interest in travel to the NWT remains high. 

SA国际影视传媒淥ur website is seeing about 80 per cent of the same level of hits compared to the same time last year," she said. "So we know there's still good interest in the NWT for destination travel, and that's a good thing for our tourism industry, if we can keep the awareness alive through this difficult period.SA国际影视传媒� 

In its capacity as a non-profit organization, NWT Tourism is following the current situation of tourism companies and is working on helping operators by giving them resources on federal business assistance programs. 

SA国际影视传媒淲eSA国际影视传媒檙e in dialogue with them about the possible gaps (in the programs) and doing a lot of work with governments and the chambers of commerce and the Tourism Association of Canada to ensure pandemic effects are limited,SA国际影视传媒� Bolstad said. 

The organization is also conducting a marketing campaign to SA国际影视传媒渕ake sure the Emerging Wisely plan plays out with some clarity in the near term,SA国际影视传媒� for example by helping operators understand how can they write safety measure compliance plans. 

For the coming months, as territorial operators look at the possibilities for the local market, NWT Tourism seeks to SA国际影视传媒渦se this opportunity to showcase to residents what we have and what people from all over the world come to see and do here," said Bolstad. "I think that will contribute to the sense of pride here.SA国际影视传媒�