Billy Doucet and his wife Brenda Lee bought Le Gabriel in 2007. Since then, the family business has been booming, attracting an average 300 people per night in the summer and fall. But this year, COVID-19 is keeping people away from restaurants.

Some of the areas most affected by the virus in Canada represent the biggest tourist demographic visiting Chéticamp every summer. “Restaurants on the eastern side of Nova Scotia,” Doucet said, “we rely on everybody, all through Canada, but the biggest business that comes down is Ontario and Quebec.” The restaurant owner believes that tourists coming from those provinces won’t be able to visit until August or September at the least. “This year, if you can average 50 [customers] a night, you’ll do good,” he said.

Tourism is one of the most important economic sectors in the region. In a regular year, about 230 people work at restaurants and accommodations here in Chéticamp, that’s about 4.5% of the population. Not to mention every other local business that benefits from the flow of tourists -- gas stations, retail and more. Because of the pandemic, this season will be different. Destination Cape Breton, a non-profit society working to grow the island’s tourism industry through marketing, is expecting about 75% fewer visitors.

Fewer customers mean a smaller number of jobs available for people in town. “We’re used to having in the dead of summer, about 30 employees,” Doucet said. “And this summer, depending on the tourists or when we’re allowed to eat in again, maybe we’ll hire 10. It could be more. It all depends if we get help from the government. They’ve been good up to now, so hopefully they will help seasonal workers, because they will need EI when the fall comes.”

A reduced tourism season affects other areas of the local economy. With a limited clientele, restaurants that open will be buying less seafood. Doucet, for example, usually buys about 5000 lbs. of lobster and about 2200 lbs. of crab to cook at the restaurant. This year, he expects he will buy about 300 lb of lobster maximum and 114 lb of crab. It’s a smaller market for the fishing industry to sell its products.

Destination Cape Breton CEO Terry Smith said the organization has been working with government to encourage measures to help local businesses. “There are advocacy efforts happening at both the federal level and the provincial level for a bigger relief package specifically for the tourism industry,” Smith said. “And we’re hopeful that there’s more coming because the concern is, we could lose businesses that won’t be able to survive. We certainly want to ensure that there is an industry that is left when we come out the other side of this pandemic.”

To find out more about how the tourism industry is preparing for this year’s disrupted season, you can listen to the whole interview with Destination Cape Breton CEO Terry Smith here.