Five years after COVID upended tourism, the industry’s revival is still up in the air

By Christopher Reynolds Michael Hale still recalls the moment COVID-19 upended his world. “I can feel this pit in my stomach even as I recount that day,” said the CEO of Northern Vision Development, which owns seven hotels and eight restaurants and bars in the Yukon. Hale and a half-dozen colleagues were gathered around a conference table at the company’s Whitehorse headquarters on March 7, 2020. They were discussing the Arctic Winter Games, set to draw thousands of visitors a week later. “We were trying to figure out what to do with oversold rooms,” Hale said. In the middle of the meeting, a press release was sent out. The games had been cancelled. “It was shock in the room.” Two days later, hotel bookings had plunged from 100 per cent…

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