Essex County bed and breakfast changes tourism model to stay afloat during COVID

An Essex County, Ont., bed and breakfast has changed the way they've done business in the last three years of the pandemic, in an effort to stay open and successful in the struggling tourism sector.

Ben Leblanc-Beaudoin is the owner of the Iron Kettle in Comber. He has abandoned the bed and breakfast model he ran pre-pandemic, in favour of a specialty food boutique.

"It's been extremely successful, in the sense that we don't throw any food out and we can pay our bills," he said."It's certainlya lot of work and the costs are always slowing due to the economy, but it's something that we have better control of than, say, catering for a wedding of 300 people or hosting people overnight, as we used to do."

Leblanc-Beaudoin says his new focus allows him to rely on local customers, instead of tourists, which may be a successful model.

Ontario's tourism industry is not expected to fully recover from the pandemic until 2025, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the industry say in a joint report, with recommendations including tax incentives, cannabis tourism and affordable housing to support staff recruitment.

Tourism businesses in the province are generating 64 per cent of the revenues they saw in 2019, on average, and seven in 10 report they have taken on debt to stay afloat, according to the OCC and Tourism Industry Association of Ontario reportreleased Tuesday.

Leblanc-Beaudoinsaid he's content to let the rooms stay empty for now.

"What we want is to create a steady flow of people through our doors, and tourism is not going tobring that for us," he said. "Everyday battleshould we open our rooms? Should we not? And every day the answer since March 2020 has been 'No.'"

He's thinking of reopening his rooms, but not for another twoor threeyears.

Small businesses struggle

Like many other business owners in the region,Leblanc-Beaudoin took to social media talking about the struggles and successes of owning a small business.

Some owners have told CBC news that rising costs have crushed profits and made it difficult to stay open.

Windsor favourites Bad Witch bakery and Robbie'sGourmet Sausage Company announced last week that they would close.

Adriano Ciotoli, founder of Windsor Eats, which showcases restaurants and bars in Windsor-Essex through its website and food tours, said there are more closures to come.

"We know of many businesses that are pretty much in the planning stages of announcing they're closing," Ciotoli told CBC News last week.

"Windsor Eats has been around for 18-plus years, and this is probably the worst year that we've had," Ciotoli said.