Tour guides miss visitors

Tourists have been scarce on the streets of Montreal in the past two years, much to the dismay of tourist guides. Most have had to reorient their careers, while hoping to rediscover the city in the not too distant future.

Mary Tison
The Press

The Professional Association of Montreal Tourist Guides (APGT) has just surveyed its members to find out how they manage to get through the pandemic. About 15% of those surveyed indicated that they had taken new training or had gone back to school altogether, while 60% had worked in other fields.

“We are versatile,” says Michel Ménard, administrator at the Association and himself a tourist guide. Many have gone on to teaching. Others went to community organizations or participated in the Je contribute program. There was delivery, translation, recording of books for the blind, nursery work and all sorts of other trades. We managed. »

So if visitors return, could there be a shortage of guides? This does not worry Michel Ménard too much. “I don’t think it’s going back to the all-time high of 2019.”

Montreal, the epicenter

COVID-19 has hurt the city’s tourism industry. “In 2020, in Montreal, we were a bit at the epicenter of the pandemic in Quebec, this is where there were the most cases, recalls Frédéric Mandel, president of the APGT. The city was not very attractive. If Montrealers went on vacation to Gaspésie or Charlevoix, other Quebecers didn’t really want to visit a metropolis where there wasn’t much going on.

He himself did not guide at all in 2020, after the outbreak of the pandemic. “I was a translator, self-employed, he notes. Guiding allowed me to get out of the house. The plan was to essentially translate the winter and guide the summer as much as possible. »

In 2021, there was a small upturn for the industry. A few agencies have succeeded in attracting a local clientele. “There were plans, but the pie was quite a bit smaller,” notes Michel Ménard.

Then there was a small restart in August and September, with the return of Ontarians and the reopening of the border with the United States. “This short tourist season has given some people a little more hope than before,” says Frédéric Mandel.

Hesitation

We speak of “cautious optimism”. While a few respondents to the APGT survey were perfectly pessimistic about the 2022 season, the majority are moderately optimistic. However, many are hesitant to obtain the tourist guide permit from the City of Montreal for 2022, which costs $105. “If you guide four or five times, it may not be worth it,” notes Mr. Mandel.

“In 2020, 12% saw their income increase, 18% remain about the same and 70% decrease, indicates the administrator of the APGT. For those who have seen their total income decrease, it is a shortfall of $14,200 on average. In 2021, the numbers look the same. »

But here it is, the tourist guides really love their job and hope to return to it. In addition, the work is essentially done outdoors, in the streets of Montreal. And contact with visitors allows guides to see the city with new eyes. “It gives us a new love for Montreal,” adds Mr. Mandel.

Last summer, Michel Ménard wondered if he was going to try to land another contract with the Red Cross and give up the guiding profession a little. “Three days later, I went to guide a visit to Saint-Henri with people from Montreal, including two residents of Saint-Henri. It ended up in the backyard of one of them eating tacos. I left saying to myself: “Câline, it’s the fun, I’m not going to sweep this profession out of hand.” »