WATCH: Road closure concerns tourist based businesses

They are nowhere near the construction work but a number of Kelowna businesses are concerned about the impact of the Lakeshore Road closure.

The businesses are located further up Lakeshore in the hills above Okanagan Lake.

They rely heavily on tourists but this season they’re afraid that not all visitors will be able to find them because of the current detour around the road closure.

The Carmelis goat farm is one of those businesses.

“I am concerned I am afraid this will affect our business. We had random customers saying it was hard to find you because of detour,” says owner Ofri Barmor.

Her husband worries that once tourists detour onto Gordon Drive, they may not get back onto Lakeshore which takes them to Carmelis.

“The concern is it will take way more time around detour and not everyone knows where to go back to lakeshore. People not from town t will get lost and you know you lose patience and you give up,” says Ofer Bormar.

There are a number of wineries in the area that may also be impacted including St.Hubertus winery. It too is expecting to take a bit of a hit.

“We most likely will see a small reduction in sales,” says St. Hubertus owner Andy Gebert.

The winery is hoping that being a destination winery, wine-loving tourists will find their way. It’s also banding together with nearby wineries to help promote each other’s businesses.

The businesses say better signage could help. They say more signs and clearer ones are needed to direct people off of Gordon and back onto Lakeshore

“Signage is most important. A couple of signs that people are still on the wine route would be the biggest issue to give people comfort. Because Old Meadows Road is closed too, you start to get off course if you don’t get back to lakeshore,” says Gebert.

A city of Kelowna spokesperson says at this point there are no plans to makes any changes to the detour signage.