In January 2021, RTO4 launched the Tourism Adaptation and Recovery Program (TARP) in partnership with Explore Waterloo Region, Wellington County, Elora and Fergus Tourism, The City of Guelph, The Town of St. Marys, Huron County, Perth County and Waterloo Wellington Community Futures.
We are proud to share the results of the program below.
TARP was designed to help small and medium sized tourism enterprises and not-for-profits in the arts and culture sector by supporting one-time adaptation and re-opening costs incurred to continue operating during Covid-19. Applicants could apply for up to $20,000 towards implementation of health and safety protocols, renovations or equipment to accommodate social distancing.
This program was made possible through the support of Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario and we are so grateful for their support of our local tourism industry.
We would also like to thank the 31 individuals from local BIAs, chambers of commerce, destination marketing organizations, municipalities and other organizations who helped distribute the opportunity and sit on the selection panels.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge the hard work of Karen Mitchell in administering this project. We wanted to help as many businesses as possible, which increased the complexity of reporting and administration and Karen hit it out of the park with her attention to detail, organization and communication skills.
