News

Extreme weather is putting Canada’s reputation as tourist destination at risk

Published

1 year ago

August 27, 2023

Wildfires have displaced residents and restricted travel in some areas across Canada this summer just as the country looks to revive tourism business after years of pandemic-related restrictions.

It’s the latest climate-related disruption that some industry players worry will mar the country’s reputation as a hub for tourism.

Wildfires in British Columbia and Northwest Territories in the month of August, which followed blazes across Ontario, Quebec and the east coast in the spring, have sent thousands of residents fleeing from their homes and disrupted many businesses during the busy summer travel season.

Beth Potter, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), says that the group’s focus in the midst of the crisis is on the safety of residents, business operators and travellers in communities affected by the wildfires.

However, she notes that for tourism businesses that were counting on this summer for a critical rebound from impacts tied to COVID-19 restrictions, the wildfires are cutting that recovery short.

“We are not back yet operating at 100 per cent. We have not recovered from the lack of business over the last few years because of restrictions related to the pandemic,” Potter tells Global News. “Additional crisis situations like wildfires and extreme weather are just impeding our ability to make that return to business as usual.”

The ongoing devastation on the west coast prompted B.C. premier David Eby to issue a temporary ban on travel to areas affected by the wildfires last week. The ban was lifted for West Kelowna on Friday and other regions earlier in the week as the province said enough accommodations had been secured for the roughly 30,000 residents displaced from their homes.

Flights are also starting to resume to the Central Okanagan area a week after they were halted.

Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., told the Canadian Press this week that while it’s too soon to say how severe the impact of wildfire disruptions and associated bans will be on businesses, “August is typically the busiest month for visitors.”

Many operators are struggling not only with a direct hit to their businesses amid wildfire impacts, but with communication concerns, Potter notes.

Even tourist sites in areas that are not directly impacted by wildfires are having to reach out to international visitors to clarify that it’s safe to travel as news of the ongoing fires in Canada, Greece and Hawaii dominate headlines, she says.

Extreme weather risks ‘vital economic engine’

The record wildfire season is just the latest extreme weather disruption to hit Canadian provinces this summer as Nova Scotia recovers from flooding last month and damaging storms tore through Ottawa.

Canadian wildfires and the associated smoke travelling south of the border and even across the Atlantic Ocean have made headlines internationally.

Climate-related disruptions are putting the reputation of Canada’s tourism industry at risk, Potter says, which “jeopardizes that vital economic engine.”

“One of our biggest concerns right now is the reputational issues that we could be suffering from,” she says.

Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, agrees that the country’s status as a tourist destination could be at risk in the long term thanks to regular impacts from climate change.

The tourism industry in Canada typically represented around two per cent of the country’s gross domestic product before the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Antunes says that, on a national basis, tourism isn’t as vital to the country as some Caribbean nations, for example, it can have an outsized impact on some resort towns in Canada like the ones that are affected by the B.C. travel ban.

“We’re going to see, essentially, people not wanting to come to visit Canada in those areas that are most affected,” he says.

Potter says that many businesses are turning their attention to how they can build up their resilience to extreme weather, and that TIAC is having conversations with governments about building up infrastructure to adapt to new climate realities.

Among the biggest financial disruptions for businesses beset by wildfires and flooding is securing proper insurance coverage.

Experts who spoke to Global News this week said that climate change is likely to see insurance premiums soar for coverage related to natural disasters.

“Insurance actually started to become a real big problem for our industry when the pandemic hit. And that challenge is continuing to grow,” Potter says. “It’s become unwieldy, it’s incredibly costly, and it’s going to have a direct impact on whether a business can afford to open or not.”

She says TIAC is having conversations with the governments now about setting parameters for insurance coverage.

Potter calls on Canadians who might themselves patronize wineries in the Okanagan or other tourist destinations seeing their busy season put on hold by the wildfires: don’t forget us when the fires are out.

“Support your neighbours and make your plans to visit where you couldn’t visit this year as these jurisdictions and destinations rebuild from what has been a challenging summer,” she says.

— with files from Global News’ Anne Gaviola, Nathaniel Dove and The Canadian Press

Source link

News

Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

4 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

AP MLB:

Source link

News

Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

Source link

News

Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

5 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

Source link