Several tour and guide service business operators in the Collingwood area have decided just because they can open, doesn’t mean they should — at least not until serious considerations have been made.
On Monday, the Ontario government announced its plan to get more recreational activities open by moving forward with a regional approach to Stage 2 of reopening the province.
Trail riding, biking, walking and boat tours, and tasting tours for wineries, breweries and distilleries in the Collingwood area can officially open on Friday, June 12.
One of the concerns of operators in town is that Stage 2 was implemented regionally. Given Collingwood’s functionality as a tourist town and proximity to several city centres, this brings with it the concern that people from outside regions with higher COVID-19 case incidence rates will flock to these tours.
In addition, although the contents of Monday’s announcement did not come as a surprise to the majority of owners and tour operators, the speed at which it is being executed did.
“While we want to open as quickly as possible — obviously all businesses would after being shut for so long — we are placing a priority on the health of our staff and the health of our guests. We aren’t going to do anything until we are ready to do it properly,” said Mark Woodburn, the General Manager of Scenic Caves Nature Adventures.
Woodburn says Scenic Caves will not reopen this Friday, but hopes to welcome people back to the park before the end of June.
“We’ve been doing everything we can do to be as prepared as we can for the day the announcement was made,” said Woodburn. “But it is going to take us a little bit of time to go from where we are right now to being completely confident we can operate in this environment safely.”
Kevin Johnston, owner of Collingwood Adventure Voyages (fishing charters and boat tours), has also been planning and preparing his opening process for several weeks now. Subsequently, Johnston has been scrambling to put the last pieces into place in order to reopen in time for the weekend.
“I am fortunate that my business inherently has a lot of physical distancing measures already in place,” said Johnston. “We all knew this was going to be challenging when we did open up, because it’s going to be different. But it’s doable.”
The issue for even the most prepared is the limited level of resources and information for operators in the industry on how to safely and effectively move forward.
Under the guidelines for tour and guide services, the Ontario government states patrons must adhere to physical distancing measures and limits to public gatherings, and any equipment rented must be cleaned and disinfected between rentals.
“The challenge is that they haven’t really made any recommendations for workplace or customer safety for this industry,” said Johnston. “The guidelines are so convoluted. I appreciate that they are opening, but we are going to need a little bit more. A lot of the onus is on us.”
Johnston has been connecting with other operators in the area, such as Sarah Ney, owner of The Wildlings, and Jennie Elmslie, co-owner of Free Spirit Tours, to discuss a plan of action together.
“We wanted to bounce ideas off each other and talk about protocol. It’s nice to feel like you are on the same page as somebody else,” he said.
Free Spirit Tours, on the other hand, has already been operating for over a week now. The tour company opened its doors to residents of South Georgian Bay on June 1, offering restructured paddling tours and rentals on the Nottawasaga River and the Beaver River.
“We’ve known for a while now that it’s not going to be a normal summer, but we always felt like paddling would lend itself,” said Elmslie.
Elmslie said it’s been a learning process, and so far, everyone has been great.
“People have been really happy,” she said. “Customers understand. They get it, they are just happy that they are going out.”
Other operators are hopeful that mentality will remain.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot of ‘do the best you can,’ because that’s all anybody can do,” said Johnston.
Ultimately, the safety of staff and patrons are top of mind for all business owners.
The Nordic trails at Scenic Caves have been converted into a network of one-way hiking loops so everyone will be travelling in the same direction, allowing individuals to stay apart.
While Johnston doesn’t want to enforce wearing masks on his boat in the hot sun — especially because he runs private tours, meaning ideally everyone is already in the same “bubble” — he plans to make it mandatory for all of his guests to have a mask on board in case a situation should arise.
Georgian Hills Vineyards, which offers wine tours and tasting flights, has been under renovation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The upgraded winery will include the addition of a new entrance so patrons can appropriately social distance upon arrival.
“We are just trying to take it step-by-step, balancing the safety with the marketing, and making sure everyone will play by the rules,” said Andrea O’Reilly, the marketing manager at Georgian Hills. The opening date for the vineyard is June 20.
However, for some, with the new requirements and restrictions in place, opening some aspects didn’t seem financially feasible.
Free Spirit Tours made the decision to cancel their summer camp programs, along with all caving and climbing activities.
“To have to shut down the kids camp this summer was heartbreaking,” said Elmslie. “These are core activities of what we do, and we love it. But we have to err on the side of caution.”
Similarly, Scenic Caves has no plans to open its zipline or eco-tours anytime soon.
“We have not found the right, safe approach to sanitizing the equipment and managing the issues with hiring and training staff under the new guidelines,” said Woodburn.
He said one option would be to buy three times as many harnesses, but with limits on how many people can be in the park, it is likely that they won’t be able to produce the same profit.
With insurance costs and other business overhead and expenses, all of the owners and operators have had to have some tough discussions.
“It’s really important to get the proper safety in place because if we don’t, then we might not be here for the rest of the summer,” said O’Reilly.
“As stressful as it is, the announcement came at a good time,” said Johnston. “If we were to wait another few weeks, it probably wouldn’t be worth opening at all.”
The tour owners and operators are excited to get back to doing what they love.
“I can’t wait,” said Johnston. “I am really looking forward to getting back in the harbour and start rocking and rolling.”
“With this whole pandemic, people realize how important nature is and how important it is to get out. So we’re happy to be able to still offer that,” said Elmslie.
If you own or operate a Collingwood-based tour company and you've got an opening date set, or are already open, let us know so we can add you to our re-opened business list. Email [email protected].
