Kelowna International Airport’s Spring Travel Show busy despite COVID-19

The annual spring travel open house at the Kelowna International Airport is the busiest expo in the Okanagan.

According to the airport, over $11,000 of prizes were handed out.

“I won 50 per cent of flights for two!” Dean Draginda said.

People came from up and down the valley to talk to airport staff, airlines and travel agents to get travel tips and information on popular destinations.

This year, the airport said it was answering a lot of questions about travel and COVID-19.

YLW says they now have new precautions in place for the virus.

“For international travellers that are coming through our airport, there are some screening questions that are being asked,” said Sam Samaddar, YLW’s airport director.

Samaddar says the airport has also increased its safety protocols.

“We’ve added and stepped up our cleaning regiment,” said Samaddar. “We’ve also put out an advisory to our staff.”

Since the beginning of the year, the number of passengers passing through the airport has dipped.

“We’ve seen a decline in traffic but I wouldn’t put it all on COVID-19,” said Samaddar. “You would have to also look at the grounding of the Boeing and the decline of the Canadian economy in the last quarter.”

Global News asked people at the open house if the fear of contracting COVID-19 is enough to change their travel plans.

“Not really, no. I’m cautious, of course,” said Wayne Emde. “I’ve already booked flights to Mexico next week and Japan in a couple of weeks. No plans to cancel at this point.”

However, local travel agents say they have noticed a change in their business.

“We’ve seen some short-term cancellations,” said Kevin Pohlmann, a WestJet agent. “We haven’t changed any of our capacity, yet.”

WestJet now has a waiver in place allowing travellers who have booked their trips during Mar. 5 – Mar. 28th, 2020, to alter their plans, with no fees attached.

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