It’s difficult to say how many businesses have succumbed to the COVID-19 pandemic, says the chair of the business advisory council.

Rich Thompson said in an interview last week he doesn’t know exactly what the impact has been.

But if he were to base it on the number of businesses that have turned in their keys to his Northern Vision Development company, it would be less than five per cent, he said.

Thompson said the Yukon Business Relief Program and the federal relief program have been a saviour for many businesses, and continue to be.

The programs assist businesses that have lost a large portion of their normal revenue streams.

Thompson said without the assistance, many more would have failed.

But there remains a need for the governments to continue providing support, he said.

The chair of the advisory council said the council has not been as active as it was at the outset of the pandemic because many businesses that were forced to close are reopening.

The tourism and culture sectors are continuing to struggle and likely will for quite some time, he said.

Thompson said Northern Vision Development laid off more than 100 of the 250 staff members it was employing prior to the pandemic.

He estimates they’ve called back 30 to 40 per cent of those employees.

In the tourism sector, things won’t get back to normal for two to five years, he said.

Thompson said before it can get back on its feet, the travel patterns will have to return to what they were.

It’s not just international travel, but domestic travel as well, he said.

He said people will have to feel comfortable again about travelling, about flying on aircraft, he said.

Until then, the tourism sector will continue to hurt, he explained.

Thompson said he has been impressed by the flexibility and ability to adapt that businesses have displayed in dealing with the pandemic.

If you look at Northern Vision, for instance, it was able to reach an arrangement with the mining and exploration industry to use its hotel rooms to provide a place for transient workers to self-isolate for two weeks before returning to their job site, he pointed out.

Thompson said for some, however, the opportunities to recover are just not there.

If there’s no travel to the territory, there just isn’t the revenue for businesses such as your smaller operators, like your tourism business that provides river tours, he said.

“What has happened in the last six months has had a terrific impact,” Thompson said. “None of us have ever seen anything like this before.”

He said he has been impressed by how respectful and thoughtful the business community has been in response to the pandemic.

According to Statistics Canada’s most recent labour force survey, the unemployment rate in the territory would be 12.5 per cent if you were to include the number of Yukoners who are no longer in the labour force because of COVID-19 closures.

For Canada, the jobless rate would be 13 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.