Jasper businesses are battling time and destruction: survey

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A recent report shows that Jasper businesses face an uphill battle once the rebuilding commences because many ran on slim margins in an economy that relies on visitors that won’t be back soon.

As Jasperites continue to await details on when they will be allowed to re-enter their community, Jasper businesses prepare themselves for a tough rebuild. A survey by the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta, Tourism Jasper, Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association and the Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment released on Tuesday indicated that more than half of Jasper businesses couldn’t survive a closure of two months or more without taking on debt.

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As a tourism hub, Jasper’s economy, and the businesses that make it, are dependent on visitors which can be precarious at the best of times. The lack of access to the park isn’t just preventing visitors, though — it’s forcing workers to go elsewhere, too.

For Brett Ireland, co-owner of Jasper Brewing and Maligne Distilling and the chairman of the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta, the best case scenario is if they get 50 per cent to 75 per cent of employees back.

“It’s been the challenging task of trying to sort out what the next steps are for our business. And most of that circles around the team. Like how it’s impacting the team, and who we’re going to have in terms of a team to get re-opened,” said Ireland.

Summer months are crucial

Of the more than 80 businesses surveyed, 37 per cent said that their businesses were either entirely or partially lost in the Jasper wildfire complex. The damage to the businesses is already a tough economic loss, but businesses are also missing peak tourism season, which is when the survey said three-quarters of Jasper businesses make 60 per cent of their annual revenue.

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The summer months are crucial to both the workforce and the businesses in Jasper. With no access to the town, no timeline of return, and the fast fade of summer travellers, Jasper businesses are enduring a loss of staff and revenue, all while dealing with the uncertainty of their properties in town.

The survey also indicated that more than 60 per cent of businesses aren’t expecting to return to previous revenue levels for seven months or longer, while more than 50 per cent said they would need immediate in-destination staff accommodation before they could resume at all.

“Based on the survey results we just received, it’s pretty jarring and scary to think about how many of those small businesses might not make it through,” Ireland said.

Ireland said the building next to Jasper Brewing burned down and he is unsure of the extent it damaged his building. Nor was he sure what kind of state the kitchen could be in, which he said could be a bit of a “science experiment.”

Hope amid a bleak uncertainty

The survey said that as businesses wait to re-enter the town, many are eagerly awaiting key information from all levels of government on what “streamlined, timebound, development approvals process might look like along with insights on what short, medium and long-term employee wage and business support programs might be available until visitors return.”

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Ireland said a couple of things are giving him hope amid the bleak uncertainty that Jasper businesses might be feeling.

First, he expressed hope at the return of visitors — whenever it may be — who he said wrote to the business on social media.

“It sounds kind of cheesy to say but we have had an absolutely insane amount of positive messages through social media accounts. And, it’s people sharing huge life milestones, memories, that they’ve had in Jasper Brewing and all these huge comments of support,” said Ireland.

He’s also been heartened by the co-operation between various levels of government.

“I’m really optimistic that we might get that collaboration and that sort of positive approach those multi-layers of government have been taking through the actual crisis, and we can see that sustained through the recovery.”

zdelaney@postmedia.com

Twitter/X: @ZacharyDelaney

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