The Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association is expecting to see a lot of tourists from others parts of the province coming to the Kamloops area and the Okanagan this summer.
Vice President, Ellen Walker-Matthews says tourism operators hope to rebound from a difficult 2020 season brought on by COVID-19, though there won’t be any international visitors for a while longer because of border restrictions.
“British Columbians have been very loyal to their province and they want to get out of their homes and explore their province. We were encouraged by how the virus reacted in the summer months and hopefully that combined with vaccine will make it that much better for this summer,” she said, on the NL Morning News.
“We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing in terms of early bookings for the summer months. It is difficult without the international guests for sure and certainly difficult in some of the north part of our region, certainly in the North Thompson area, where they really rely on a lot of international travel.”
Walker-Matthews says while TOTA has been optimistically planning for a return to normal this summer, they’re also being careful and making changes as needed.
“We’re been making plans all along and just revising the dates when those plans go into effect, but things are still on hold until we have more indications form the provincial health officer as to when we will see some restrictions lifted,” she added.
“But we’re hopeful that summer will somehow rebound to levels of prior years.”
The CEO of Tourism Kamloops, Beverley DeSantis, previously told NL News they are taking things one day at a time as we head towards the summer.
“We have everything in the hopper as soon as those health orders are lifted and its safe for people across Canada to come into our province, we’re ready to go,” DeSantis said. “That said, I’m not anticipating a big boost in tourism this summer. I think we’re looking at towards the end of 2021.”
No international travel, large events in 2021, Dr. Henry says
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says concerns about a third wave ramping up mean you won’t be going to any concerts or seeing many tourists from other countries.
“Things like international travel, international gatherings, large festivals that have people coming from multiple places are not likely to happen this year,” she said. “Cruise ships coming into B.C. are not going to happen this year either.”
“Whether it’s a conference or a meeting or a wedding or a family gathering, those things will be dangerous because we know that the vaccine is not available equally around the world. The risk anywhere is a risk everywhere, so we’re not immune to that.”
Henry also says as long as daily new case numbers hover around 500, we should expect most public safety orders to stay in effect at least two more months.
(Photo via Tourism Kamloops)
– With files from Marcella Bernardo, News1130
