The city’s hospitality industry warns that the cancellation of Vancouver’s Honda Celebration of Light will lead to a significant loss in sales.
On Wednesday, organizers announced that the summer event would be cut due to a combination of rising costs and a shortfall in funding.
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The BC Restaurant and Food Services Association (BCRFSA) says it is surprised by the move since it is the largest annual public event in Vancouver and brings a lot of money into the city.
“That is really unfortunate, I think there’s about a million and a half people over the three nights that would be converging in downtown Vancouver,” said Ian Tostenson, president of BCRFSA.
He adds that it is hard not to see what the loss of a more than 30-year summer tradition will do to restaurants and bars.
“I think we’re going to try to do what we can kind of do because these kinds of events really are a great economic boost not just for restaurants, but for the entire city.”
Tostenson believes that Vancouverites will be disappointed as there are already no fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
“I think there’s a lot of disappointment about fireworks on New Year’s, and we killed that, and now we’ve killed this, and I think it was a marquee event.”
In an interview with 1130 NewsRadio, Mayor Ken Sim says that the city remains committed to supporting the event with funding for services like public safety.
He warns that the municipality, however, can not carry the burden alone; he calls on other levels of government to step up.
“Senior levels of government, they benefit directly,” he explained.
“I say this respectfully, I think they’re being pennywise and pound-foolish because when you have an event like this, the City of Vancouver actually gets no tax revenues, but we face the burden of public safety and all the costs that are associated with it.”
He says his team would like to keep the tradition alive.
“It’s incredibly important that we have vibrant events and that we build community and have a lot of fun and great times in the city of Vancouver because that’s what makes Vancouver incredibly, incredibly special.”
With files from Ben Bouguerra.
