With many businesses reopening, Montreal’s retail capital of Saint-Catherine Street is looking busier than it was two months ago.
But the battle with COVID-19 is far from over, and retail revenues coming from tourists is taking a massive hit. “It’s devastating to a high point — you think about all the festivals, all the tourism that used to bring, from Quebec, from Canada, from outside of our country,” says Marc Fortin Quebec president with the Retail Council of Canada.
The tourism industry normally generates $4.5 billion every year to the Montreal economy. This year, it will be nowhere close to that. “For this summer, we are not going to be able to gain that back — everything has been cancelled,” Fortin said, adding he hopes visitors from