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To: Taki who wrote (113832)	4/22/2003 12:35:16 PM
From: Taki	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 150070

(COMTEX) B: Ontario planning SARS economic revival plan as tour operators it hard B: Ontario planning SARS economic revival plan as tour operators hit hard TORONTO, Apr 22, 2003 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Ontario's enterprise minister says the province is preparing a revival plan as a result of the growing economic impact of the SARS outbreak, an announcement that came amid news that tour operators in Ontario are being hit hard by the crisis. The revival plan, being put together before the main tourism season gets under way, will be implemented once the outbreak is under control, Jim Flaherty said Tuesday. It's too early to know how bad the economic impact is, but the decline in the number of people coming to Toronto is affecting the provincial economy "quite dramatically," and the government can do little until public-health officials give the OK, said Flaherty. "When the health-care professionals say that it's safe to go ahead and sell Ontario again and market Ontario again, we're going to be ready to (do) that," said Flaherty. "I don't know what it will cost. We have to first of all measure the downturn in business in various sectors before we start speculating about numbers." But at least one sector says it's being hammered by the outbreak. The Ontario Motor Coach Association said Tuesday that some coach and tour operators have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business over the past few weeks. "Our sector of the travel and tourism industry has been hit very, very hard by cancellations as a result of the fear of SARS and the mistaken perception that people could put themselves at risk by visiting Toronto," Brian Crow, president of Ontario Motor Coach Association, said in a news release. One coach operator member has lost $300,000 of business in just two weeks due to SARS concerns, the release said. Another lost a $77,000 contract for shuttle services when a major convention was cancelled, and a small southwestern Ontario tour operator has had 52 coach departures to Toronto cancelled due to SARS concerns. Many other operators are experiencing similar cancellations, the release said. Coach charters to Blue Jays games, theatres and other Toronto tourist attractions are being cancelled or not being booked at all. Representatives of the province's motor coach and tour operators were to hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss ways to deal with the dramatic drop in tourist business stemming from the fear of SARS. The meeting was to bring together coach and tour operators, Tourism Toronto officials and representatives of the U.S. Consulate. Crow also called on the city and the province to come up with ways to bring tourists back to Toronto. Flaherty said he would be meeting Thursday with various business groups to begin mapping out the revival plan. Finance Minister Janet Ecker said the government's priority is to curtail the spread of the disease and it will make additional financial resources available if necessary. She refused to be specific. "We don't want to get in an argument over what dollars where," said Ecker. "We've given our commitment that we'll support public health, we'll support the efforts that are being undertaken to stop this disease, and that commitment stands." Health Minister Tony Clement said Ottawa has to come up with some emergency relief to help defray the costs of fighting the outbreak, but he did not specify an amount. The online source for news sports entertainment finance and business news in Ca ada Copyright (C) 2003 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved -0- KEYWORD: TORONTO SUBJECT CODE: national * end of story *