The Saskatchewan Hotel and Hospitality Association (SHHA) has announced that it has rebranded to become Hospitality Saskatchewan and enhanced its mandate to now serve as the tourism industry association for the province.
“Hospitality Saskatchewan will focus on advocacy, collaboration, and the education of operators and our industry partners,” said Board Chair Gary Hoffert in a release. “We will continue to work closely with our national, provincial and municipal tourism partners on issues that affect operators in this great province.”
Locally, the move is seen as a positive one.
"Tourism Yorkton is pleased to see the new Hospitality Saskatchewan and looks forward to working with the industry on advocacy, collaboration and education," offered TY Executive Director Randy Goulden.
"The tourism industry has been heavily impacted by COVID-19 and now will need to work together to recover and market the sector to visitors and residents."
Juanita Polegi, Executive Director with the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce also sees the move as a good one for the sector.
"Yorkton and surrounding area enjoys a variety of attractions to visitors – ranging from our beautiful landscapes and wildlife to a diversity of cultural experiences," she noted, adding, "An organization such as Hospitality Saskatchewan will be a strong advocate for the entire hospitality and tourism sector.
"The Yorkton Chamber looks forward to working with Hospitality Saskatchewan as we move forward from the pandemic."
The rebranding has been in the making for the last three years as the SHHA began advocating for a more diverse membership that includes restaurants, conference/convention centres, tourism, and cultural attractions and even cannabis producers. This is in addition to its traditional membership, which includes hotels, motels, taverns, pubs and off-sale outlets, noted the provincial release.
This advocacy reached a peak last year when the pandemic devastated the hospitality sector and put pressure on the association to engage governments at all levels. The association found itself in the position of advocating for the entire tourism industry thereby providing governments with a single point of contact. With the association acting as the de facto unified voice for the industry, today’s announcement formalizes those efforts into a new organization.
“I would like to congratulate Hospitality Saskatchewan on their launch,” Minister Responsible for Tourism Saskatchewan Jeremy Harrison said in the release. “Saskatchewan’s tourism sector has been hit hard by the global COVID-19 pandemic and as our economy recovers, a strong and growing tourism sector will be an important part of that recovery.”
The new association is being warmly welcomed by both the tourism and business sectors in the province.
“Tourism Saskatchewan values its longstanding relationship with the SHHA,” said Tourism Saskatchewan CEO Mary Taylor-Ash in the provincial release. “Partnerships, collaboration and mutual support are fundamental to tourism recovery in the wake of COVID-19. We look forward to working with Hospitality Saskatchewan and its members.”
“The Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce is very pleased to see the launch of Hospitality Saskatchewan as the new private sector advocate for the hospitality sector. The expansion of the mandate of the hotel association is a much needed addition to better serve the important tourism and hospitality sector in Saskatchewan. We fully support the move and will do all we can assist in their success, because when business in any sector succeeds, we all win,” said Steve McLellan, CEO, Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.
Despite the challenges facing the industry today, Jim Bence, Hospitality Saskatchewan’s President and CEO said Saskatchewan’s visitor economy has an incredibly bright future. “Our province can offer the world a unique tourism experience unlike anything on the planet, and we are ready for that challenge,” he said.
The association’s roots stretch back to 1906 when a small group of enthusiastic and ambitious hotel operators met and decided that an industry association was needed to confront the many common issues facing hotel owners in the province. In that spirit Hospitality Saskatchewan will continue to aggressively advocate on behalf of the entire visitor economy.
