Shuswap businesses experiencing mid-summer return to typical visitor season

“I think it’s just a more consistent busy. Every day seems to be great. Like we don’t have a lot of quiet days. We’ll have a quiet afternoon or a quiet morning, but from morning to night, it’s consistently busier,” she explains, “We feel really supported here at the District and at the Hub, and word around the town too is that everybody is feeling like they’re supported, so that’s wonderful to hear.”

According to Shuswap Tourism’s Manager, Morgen Matheson, the usual booking benchmarks that help indicate what sort of visitor traffic the area can expect initially showed a dip, but part of that was simply because more people are booking holidays closer to the date, rather than well-in-advance.

“The stats were showing that our bookings were down by approximately 30 per cent but now that we’re halfway through the summer and looking back at those numbers, we’re seeing that those numbers are significantly less,” she explains,”Which is great because it’s just showing that the tourism trend is going towards last minute travel, and it may not be as dire as assumptions or headlines may suggest.”

The cooler, rainy weather seen in the springtime also contributed to a slower start to the season.

“I think there is a misconception too, and why people bookings did look and appear slow. Because of the event last year, people have made assumptions about the conditions that they would be coming back to and that maybe this area is more desolate than it actually is,” explains Matheson, “As you can see here (at Talking Rock golf course), conditions couldn’t be more lovely out here. So that just goes to show that we did have a significant event but it didn’t effect all of the businesses out here.”

On that note, Matheson adds that Shuswap Tourism’s website recently added a live webcam section so prospective visitors can take a look at conditions before they book a trip or rental.

By mid-summer, business owners and tourism operators in the Shuswap say the area is as busy as it tends to be for this time of year, but some, including Shuswap Marina, have noticed more visitors leaning towards last minute bookings.

“We’re certainly seeing reasonable amounts of traffic on the water and that kind of thing,” says Manager Gareth Seys, “I mean our rental bookings are definitely down but we’re getting a lot of walk-ins to make up for that. So it shows that people aren’t really making plans ahead of time as much as they are kind of just flying by the seat of their pants. Like, ‘oh look, there’s no smoke so we can go out and go have some fun’.”

As for who is coming out, the Shuswap is drawing people from abroad, and neighbouring areas.

“We’re still getting a lot Albertans, still getting a lot of tourists coming into the area,” notes Seys, “We do have a lot of business that comes out from Kamloops as well, so there’s still lots of that happening for sure.”

Those visitors being welcomed with open arms by local businesses who felt the area was overdue for a smoother summer.

“It’s a great feeling, it’s a great feeling,” adds Lagore.

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Shuswap businesses experiencing mid-summer return to typical visitor season

Our Community