Stories from the pandemic
The head of Tourisme Montréal says the city’s reputation is in tatters due to coronavirus, and needs a lot of help to be rebuilt.
Two organizations concerned with the fate of the downtown core are proposing various means Le Devoir calls audacious, to draw people back downtown again.
The mayor may have to ask Quebec for permission to run a deficit to offset the extra costs caused by the pandemic.
City hall’s promised new (temporary) cycling and walking paths are coalescing quickly and people are using them. Others, of course, complain.
The owner of a successful grocery store in the Plateau lays out in detail why food and other basic goods are going to be more expensive, as his costs have soared to adapt his business to new demands.
Jonathan 10:23 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
I LOLed at that TVA reporting on the ‘pandemic’ bike paths. They took one lane out for a new bike path.
That is actually right next to my workplace. Haven’t been there since January, but there are not very many vehicles rolling on that part of Rachel.
Dominic 11:15 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
Isn’t every other city in the world facing a tourism crisis? Not sure why Montreal’s reputation is any worse off than NYC or all of Italy since they were all hot spots.
Ephraim 12:37 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
Sorry to have to remind people…
Tourisme Montreal is NOT a government agency, although they LEVY a tax of 3.5% on tourism businesses without giving them any representation. It is the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (used to be Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal) and is a “not-for-profit” in that they pay out big surpluses to the people at the top so they don’t have a profit. They can say what they want, but about 75% of the tourism businesses in Montreal have NO voice because they won’t pay Tourisme Montreal more money than the 3.5% that RQ collects on their behalf. In other words… they are as reliable as cable installation appointments.
Dominic 13:49 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
@Ephraim I wonder if business owners can just refuse to pay. I wonder if anyone has tried a court challenge on that
Ephraim 20:42 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
Dominic, I don’t think so, it’s collected by RQ. Tourisme Montreal wants a separate fee to be a member… if you refuse to pay that, you aren’t a member, have no say and they won’t even supply maps unless you pick them up in St-Laurent. Needless to say about 75% aren’t members. I think there used to be 2 or 3 B&B members out of nearly 100 B&Bs. That’s why all the data they provide is worthless… no one is really giving them data. All the know is how much they get from RQ.
Blork 20:45 on 2020-06-03 Permalink
There’s a part of me that would no mind seeing this city and others go back to being just cities instead of being tourist playgrounds full of gimmicks. Yes, I know that’s an old saw (remember “I’m not a tourist, I’m a traveller?”). Sure, there’s all those tourism jobs and all, but it’s all just so pathetic and boring. A couple of years ago I saw a bunch of teenage American girls go screaming into Forever 21 on Ste-Catherine, and all I could think was “FFS it’s no different from the Forever 21 in whatever city you’re coming from.” (To be fair, they might have been coming from some backwater in upstate NY that doesn’t have a Forever 21 but I DOUBT IT.)
OK, back to my happy face.
vasi 00:41 on 2020-06-04 Permalink
Honestly, I don’t think Montreal is very gimmicky as a tourist city. There’s only a few things that are almost entirely for tourists—the cruise terminal, Place Jacques Cartier, that’s about it? Maybe if you’re picky you could add the stadium, parts of Crescent, a couple of churches. Otherwise most attractions get as much attention from locals, such as festivals, museums, parks, sports, etc.
It’s nothing like, say, Miami, where the tourist parts are practically a separate city from where people actually live.