As the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic stretch on, so does the economic hardship facing many Yukon businesses, says the president of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce.

Patrick Rouble said in an interview this week many businesses have had to dig deep to hang on, such as deferring mortgage payments and the like, but they just can’t keep doing that.

“We have been at this for a year now and some of the folks have been really hard-hit,” Rouble told the Star.

He said among the hardest-hit are businesses in the personal services industry like beauty and hair salons, and the tourism sector.

Yet, they still have to deal with rising costs such as electrical bills and insurance premiums while facing a shrinking base of clientele, said the former Yukon Party cabinet minister.

On the other hand, Rouble said, there are businesses that have done well during the pandemic, like those in the construction industry.

The Yukon government is still spending money, he pointed out.

He said while some businesses in the tourism sector have lost their traffic from outside the Yukon, there is still some travel by Yukoners inside the territory.

Yukoners, said the chamber president, are making an effort to spend more at local shops on items like clothing.

The most recent numbers released this week by the Yukon Bureau of Statistics indicate the business community was hit hardest at the outset of the pandemic.

“Yukon business closures reached a high of 164 in April 2020 (revised) due in large part to the impact of COVID-19,” says the report.

“The impact was moderated by government support programs and gradual easing of restrictions in May through October 2020 resulting in a decreased number of business closures.”

The report also noted, however, that closures may have been temporary and not permanent.

Bishnu Saha, the director of the Bureau of Statistics, said the 164 closures in the spring was about double what would normally be expected.

The bureau’s report noted there were 63 fewer active businesses operating in October 2020 compared to October 2019. Of the 63, 14 were in the retail sector and 15 were in the accommodation and food sector.

“Most of those 63 were due to COVID-19,” Saha said.

Rich Thompson of Northern Vision Development, the owner of several of the Yukon’s premier hotels, said from Calgary this week what lies ahead for the Yukon’s business community will be challenging, particularly as travel restrictions remain in place.

Thompson was appointed by the Yukon government at the outset of COVID-19 to chair the business advisory council created to provide advice on how to deal with the impacts of the pandemic on the Yukon’s economy.

The council has not been active since last fall.

But NVD’s chief executive officer said from what he sees, it’s still going to be rough sailing ahead for some time.

“Trying to manage business for 11 months under these circumstances certainly takes its toll,” Thompson said.

“There is fatigue in managing human resources and balance sheet fatigue.”

It’s been almost a year now if you think of the start of the pandemic was when the Yukon government cancelled the Arctic Winter Games that had been scheduled for last March in Whitehorse, he said.

Initially, Thompson said, businesses were looking at dealing with the negative effects of COVID-19 for a period of six to nine months.

Now, it’s a year later, and there is still no end to the negative impacts in sight for many businesses, he said.

Thompson said his company’s hotel rooms are mostly empty for the large part.

“There is some business, but it’s only a fraction of what we would normally do in January and February,” he said.

Room rates are also lower than they normally would be, he noted, resulting in a further reduction in revenue.

At the start, the blow was reduced somewhat by mining and exploration companies using their hotels to house transient workers, but those companies have adjusted to provide the required self-isolation at their camps, he pointed out.

As they deal with impacts, Thompson said, Northern Vision is concentrating on upgrading their food and beverage sector, with initiatives like renovating the Edgewater Hotel.

The company wants to be ready for the day when there’s a return to more normal operating conditions, he said.

“You do what you can.”

Thompson said impacts of COVID-19 are likely to continue for quite a while.

“We are prepared to swim upstream of a couple of years,” he said, adding they just don’t know when business will return to normal.

Thompson said he took part this week in a discussion hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Yukon.

“The thing that worries me at this point is the fatigue,” he said. “My worry is businesses are just going to give up.”

Thompson said outside of the tourism industry, the Yukon’s economy is close to normal, given the volumes of government spending and such.

“When you get on the tourism side, it is as bad in the Yukon as everywhere else because tourism suffers from the lack of mobility.”