The financial lifeblood of the Fraser Valley’s tourism industry has taken a hit during the pandemic.

Craig Nichols, executive director of Tourism Abbotsford Society, talks about how the Abbotsford tourism industry was the first industry shut down in the pandemic and it will be the last to re-open fully in an interview with CIVL.

According to Nichols, tourism brought in over three million dollars to the Fraser Valley economy in 2019 but this year it only brought in an estimated one million. The reason for this dramatic decline in revenue is due to the fact that tourism makes the majority of its money by holding large weekend events. Nichols said it has been a challenge without that "without that anchor."

"That's been the biggest impact for us this year. You know, we're not a beach resort town — we don't have lakes or oceans and so we really rely, in Abbotsford, on events to drive day and overnight visitation."

"When those things can't happen (events), we lose our ability, to a large degree, to really inspire and encourage people to come into Abbotsford and spend some time," he added.

Nichols says moving forward, they are going to have to rebuild the industry from the ground up.

Here is the first part of a two-part interview with Craig Nichols: