The Grant provides one-time payments of $10,000 to $20,000 to eligible small businesses in the tourism and travel sector


Businesses that received the Ontario Small Business Support Grant (OSBSG) are not eligible for the new grant. The OSBSG was designed to help businesses that were required to close or significantly restrict services under the province-wide shutdown effective December 26, 2020. The Tourism and Travel Small Business Support Grant is designed to help small businesses in the tourism and travel sector. Eligible small businesses can apply for support to help them recover from the impacts of COVID-19 as well as to help create and protect jobs.

As announced in the 2021 Budget, Ontario is investing more than $400 million over the next three years in new initiatives to support tourism, hospitality, culture, sport and recreation sectors. This builds on investments of $225 million announced earlier, bringing the total support for these sectors to more than $625 million since the pandemic began.

Small business owners can use the grant in whatever way makes the most sense for their business. Applications for this grant will close on Friday, June 25, 2021.

 

Eligibility Requirements:

To be eligible for this grant, a business must:

  • Not have received the Ontario Small Business Support Grant
  • Have 99 or fewer employees on April 30, 2021
  • Have a revenue decline of at least 20% if the business began operating or was acquired before July 2, 2019
  • Operate a tourism or travel business in Ontario from the list below that began operating before 2021 and was in operation on April 30, 2021

 

Eligible Businesses:

  • Amusement parks and waterparks
  • Bed and breakfasts that report their revenue as business income for income tax purposes
  • Cottages or cabins that report their revenue as business income for income tax purposes, and not as rental income
  • Fireworks display services
  • Hotels and motels
  • Hunting and fishing camps
  • Indoor attractions intended primarily for tourists (for example, haunted houses, funhouses, and mazes)
  • Mobile food services (for example, chip wagons, food trucks, ice cream trucks)
  • Observation towers
  • Operators of rides, games and other activities that are operated on a concession basis at waterparks, amusement parks, carnivals, fairs, and festivals
  • Outdoor adventure operations without accommodation
  • Recreational and vacation camps (for example, overnight summer camps)
  • Recreational rental services (for example, bicycle rental, canoe/kayak rental, houseboat rental)
  • Resorts
  • Travel agents and wholesalers registered with the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO)

 

Deadline

  • Applications for this grant will close on Friday, June 25, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

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