Well, with my last article, it looks like it was a little premature on Covid and maybe wishful thinking. But salons are still open. We’re back to wearing masks and some minor restrictions for some. Hopefully the 4^th wave will not stop our vacationers from getting to their sunny destinations. According to several travel agents, this could be a really good year. Bookings are up and people are ready to go. So long as the government doesn’t lock down international travel for personal reasons, we should see an early start to the pretanning season. According to the travel agents, January and February have already booked up and Canadians are booking November and December, and some are booking both before and after Christmas. Now we need the US border to open for land travel. The snowbirds are waiting to travel south and most drive.

Canada has now opened its borders to international travelers, so hopefully the hospitality industry can get back on their feet again. That means more money to spend on looking and feeling great when you’re working! This should help our salons grow as well, since wage subsidies are coming to an end. Most have probably already heard that just before the election the wage and rent subsidies were extended into October, and the amount you can claim was increased on a few of the claim periods. If you have already claimed for your August period, you’ve seen a drop in how much you receive. There is some talk still to extend the subsidies into the new year, but just rumors. This will depend on who our next federal government will be. With election on September 20^th, who knows who our next prime minister will be and how they will deal with the 4^th wave of the pandemic.

Government and media claim this 4^th wave is about the unvaccinated. According to the numbers, the majority of the cases, hospitalizations and deaths are people that have not been vaccinated. Whether we believe this or not, governments are basing changes in restrictions on this data. So long as we don’t overrun our hospitals, especially ICU beds, we should be allowed to stay open with social distancing, gathering size limits and masks. Do I want to see my staff with masks on all the time? The answer is no. But if it allows me to stay open and have my clients feel protected, then we need to keep up with these protocols to make money and put food on our tables. Again, so far as I know there has not been an outbreak related to a tanning salon in Canada. Let’s keep it that way.

The JCTA Marketing team, after reviewing input from industry leaders and travel agents has decided to start marketing to pretanners earlier this year, starting in October. The reason, as you all know, we need to get the pretanners in a month a head of them going on vacations. Some will say that is too early and that you can start a base tan a week or 2 before going on vacations. Based on the Kimball 2017 research on making vitamin D from a sunbed, yes, you do start creating color in 3 or 4 sessions. But, if following the exposure schedule of a sunbed, it takes at least 10 sessions to acclimatize your skin for a higher UV Index. Normally this should take you 20 days or so to do. Start educating your client on the 10/30 – 10 sessions in 30 days to create a base tan. You may even see them do a few extras if they maintain the tanning schedule. The clients I’ve talked with over the almost 40 years I’ve been in this industry that did the 10 sessions are the ones that are raving clients, and they have great holidays without sunburns. They’re the ones that will sell pretanning to their friends. Referrals are the best way to get clients!!

The great news so far this year is JCTA Salon Memberships have been growing, with the exclusive JCTA insurance program now in its second year. Nonmember salons are finding out the savings and the coverage is what they’ve been looking for. If you haven’t gotten a free quote on your insurance, check out https://tancanada.org/insurance/ . This program covers anyone with a sunbed – including beauty salons and providers of spa services, lasers, teeth whitening and so much more. The JCTA has a lady calling salons to see if you’d like to do an application over the phone — it only takes 5 minutes. FYI, over the phone is quicker than doing the application from the website. The JCTA exclusive insurance broker, Brokerlink, will contact you with pricing and options. Membership growth has also been about members getting the most up to date information on covid, subsidies and grants. We’re keeping members updated on preparing for restrictions and when they are removed, how to apply for the subsidies and grants, and research that benefits the industry. How do we know? The weekly JCTA Member update has an open rate twice what it was before Covid.

Have you noticed that the negative media is few and far between? The JCTA believes this is in part due to the “Please Tan Responsibly” message we have been putting out for over 10 years. We are turning the message to what it should be, which was started by Smart Tan 25 years ago – “The Golden Rule of Suntanning: Never Sunburn.” What Smart Tan started with training 25 years ago and the JCTA moving to Professional Standards for its members has changed the industry perception to a professional one.

My fingers are crossed for a pretan season like my wife and I experienced in 2019 before Covid hit.

Steve Gilroy, JCTA Executive Director