It’s been one month since the Vancouver Aquarium shut its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, and management is going public with concerns over the facility’s financial future. “From a financial point of view for the Vancouver Aquarium, this is a disaster.
Eighty-five per cent of our revenue comes from aquarium operations,” Ocean Wise president and CEO Lasse Gustavsson told CKNW’s Mornings with Simi.
The aquarium has laid off 343 staff in an effort to cut costs, but its monthly operating cost is still in excess of $1 million. “We’ve reached out to both the federal and provincial governments and to the City of Vancouver and asked for emergency funding,” Gustavsson said. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus