(Image Credit: Chad Harris / CFJC Today)

By Dylana Kneeshaw

STAYCATION

Moving through B.C’s restart, Tourism Kamloops expects increase in driving distance visitors

Jun 14, 2020 | 1:01 PM

KAMLOOPS — Due to travel restrictions with COVID-19, the tourism industry around B.C has seen a massive halt, and Kamloops is no exception.

As the phases of B.C’s ReStart Plan evolve, Monica Dickinson – Tourism Kamloops Director of Industry Relations & Communications- is hopeful visits will start to pick up.

“We’re well into Phase Two now of B.C’s ReStart plan, and so we’ve seen the bubble open up just a tad,” Dickinson explains, “For example, if you wanted to hang out this weekend, the golf courses are open, our wineries are open, our breweries are opening, the trails are always open so you can grab a mountain bike or go hiking, and we have a few of our attractions opening up like the B.C Wildlife Park.”

Dickinson notes that their latest push, YKA Strong, has kept spirits high during the downturn. YKA Strong is a collaboration between Tourism Kamloops, the City of Kamloops, the Chamber of Commerce, Venture Kamloops, Community Futures, the Kamloops Airport, Tk’emlups, and Thompson Rivers University.

“What we did was mobilize to become one-stop shop for business resources and information to carry through the pandemic and the uncertainty,” she says, “And that work has been fortuitous, it’s been a great help to the businesses here in the community.”

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Recently, the new Support Kamloops campaign was launched, which Dickinson says encourages residents to support local businesses when possible.

While the organization is looking forward to welcoming travellers again, Dickinson says Tourism Kamloops had put out a survey to residents and found that many plan to stay within the area for their summer activities.

She says they’re figuring the ‘stay-cation’ trend will stick around even when the pandemic subsides, and Kamloops is ready for it. Part of the regular promotional messaging Tourism Kamloops puts out to potential visitors is spread to nearby cities.

“So the drive market – say Vancouverites and Calgarians, have been receiving our messages to come visit Kamloops,” explains Dickinson, “In the past, many Canadians would have taken their dollars to other countries and done vacations internationally, but I think we’re going to see a big shift to Canadians staying in Canada.”