Business View Magazine | June 2022

194 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 6 accomplished throughout the years.” The resort welcomes folks from far and wide, but the bulk come from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) in Southwestern Ontario. “That’s where we see most of our clientele coming from,” says Stanton. “However, we do get people from all over Ontario and we get some people from other areas of Canada, as well. We also have a significant following in the summer months that come from the northern U.S., places like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan, and Ohio. So we do see quite a few Americans.” Bayview Wildwood Resort has 60-80 staff in their off season and 100-120 during the peak summer season. As with all businesses these days, staffing poses some hurdles. “It’s definitely our main difficulty right now. Not only recruiting, but retaining staff, too,” Stanton says. “Growing up in this business and seeing the highs and lows when it comes to the boom and bust of business, we recognize that getting guests to the resort and generating revenue is not the main challenge for us. This present day, it is certainly the recruitment and retention of employees. It’s been incredibly challenging coming out of the pandemic. But, that being said, this issue was here before COVID. The pandemic just exacerbated the problem. It’s been there for quite some time.” Indeed, belonging to the hospitality and tourism industry, Bayview Wildwood has gone through many ups and downs with the pandemic. “How many times have we heard the word ‘pivot’?” Stanton quips. “But I would say that, over the course of the entire pandemic, there’s probably been more positives than negatives to come out of it. We’ve seen the return of leisure business like I haven’t seen in decades.” The winter weekends have been exceptionally busy this year. He admits, “It’s great to see so many people coming up from the GTA to enjoy winter activities at our resort, where we weren’t seeing that pre-pandemic.”