The Okanagan is a tourist hot spot but this year has many in the hospitality industry in Kelowna, B.C., asking where were all the tourists this season
“It has been down. It’s definitely a soft season in terms of tourism,” said Andre Thomas, who owns and operates Memphis Blues Barbeque House.
Thomas said business has been down by about 15 per cent.
“It’s frustrating,” Thomas told Global News. “You’re used to, you know, summer months were basically, you know, guaranteed money and guaranteed business and guaranteed volume, and now that’s just not the case.”
The sentiment is being echoed by the owner of SunWave Boat Rentals.
“It’s been very slow, “said owner Andre Plyusnin. “Definitely I’d say over 50-per cent less business than usual.”
Plyusnin said he usually hires up to eight employees during the peak season. This year, however, it was only three.
“The weather was nice and no smoke in the air, and there were such nice days out, but not a lot of people went out boating,” Plyusnin said.
The chair of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) said fear of wildfires is one contributing factor.
“We’ve had a tough season and that’s because the reputation of our particular area has been fire seasons,” said Michael J. Ballingall, TOTA board chair.
While cost of living is also affecting tourism, Ballingall said he believes restrictions on short-term rentals are also to blame.
“The way the government has treated Airbnb is a huge factor,” Ballingall said. “You know, tourists are used to coming to our area, renting an apartment, having cooking facilities, multiple bedrooms for their families, multiple families to stay in those apartments, and that’s what they have grown accustomed to when coming to the Thompson Okanagan. Now we’ve taken that away from them, so their choices are to go to other areas .”
Tourism Kelowna wasn’t available for comment, but in an email stated that summer data won’t be available for a few more weeks.
While that will paint a more accurate picture of how the season went, many tourism operators said they don’t need numbers to know it was much slower season.
“You could see it. You could see it as you were driving by the beaches. You could see it when you were, you know, going to the park, when you were walking downtown.”
While tourism officials do their part to attract more visitors to avoid a repeat next season, Ballingall is calling on locals to help showcase the region as well.
“Everybody out there…can go out their front door, take a picture of the beautiful weather that we’re experiencing today and share it with their friends from around the world.” he said.
The forecast for the coming days calls for continuing sunny weather with highs well into the 30s.