Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

Kamloops Tourism

Kamloops tourism-dependent businesses celebrate prospect of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted soon

May 26, 2021 | 3:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Many local businesses are starting to plan for post-pandemic life, especially now that B.C. has released its restart plan.

One of the industries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions has been tourism and accommodations. Hotels across the province have seen a considerable decline in reservations, with travel restricted by region.

In turn, tourism attractions have had to rely on locals to keep them afloat.

June 15 is pegged as the day recreational travel can resume across B.C., as long as the province reaches its targets for vaccinations and declining COVID-19 cases.

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It’s news the accommodations sector has been waiting for for months.

“It’s like the switch went back on again for us. It’s been such a difficult time for our industry,” said Bryan Pilbeam, general manager of the Delta Hotel on Victoria Street.

Pilbeam says occupancy at the hotel has been around 30-to-40 per cent through the pandemic. When the province’s restart plan was announced Tuesday (May 25), reservations started pouring in.

“The phones start ringing, reservations come through online, we’ve got groups such as golf groups and so on that have just pushed their stays back a little bit, knowing they can’t come early June now, but maybe into the peak of the summer,” he said. “And then the big events again. I think that’s one of the biggest things that people are excited for is, you know, people who have been waiting on their weddings, we’ve had wedding inquiries starting to come again yesterday.”

With much more activity, the hotel is going into hiring mode.

“We’ve been expecting this for a little bit now, but a lot of opportunities in our restaurants, events through the hotel,” Pilbeam said. “I know that the plan that’s been laid out is going to sort of lift the future of this industry back again.”

Tourism Kamloops is planning a vigorous marketing campaign to ensure visitors come back to Kamloops when permitted.

“We have our watersports, hiking, biking — this is primarily why Kamloops, I believe, is going to do very well coming out of this pandemic,” said CEO Beverley DeSantis. “It is our uncrowded, wide-open spaces that really promote healthy lifestyles and very secured activities to do coming out of COVID.”

The BC Wildlife Park is also ready to welcome back out-of-region visitors.

“The residents of Kamloops hugely support this park and they always have and they always will,” said General Manager Glenn Grant, “but all the growth that we see and the increase in revenue that we see comes from tourism.”

Grant says the restart plan allows the park to start opening up more of its regular activities.

“What we’re looking for right now is not having any of the major large events like a summer concert or something like that, but we are looking forward to having our pre-flight birds of prey shows again, animal encounters, those types of activities have been cancelled for the past year and a bit.”