B.C. wildfires hitting tourism industry hard
32% of businesses anticipate loss due to public perception in Kootenay-Rockies region
KAMLOOPS, B.C.— British Columbia’s tourism industry is taking a hit with businesses reporting rising cancellations and decreased traffic over fears of wildfires.
Maya Lange with Destinations B.C., the province’s tourism planning and marketing corporation, said Wednesday preliminary results from a survey of businesses in the Kootenay-Rockies region found that 32 per cent are anticipating losses due to perceptions of the fires.
“We are very concerned. Just looking at the volume of visitation and the volume of trips that are taken by British Columbian and Albertan residents alone . . . especially in the months of July and August, we think there will be a signif- icant impact.”
She said one business in the region alone reported it has lost $100,000 due to cancellations in July.
The Thompson-Okanagan region has been hardest hit by wildfires and Lange said 47 per cent of businesses in the area are reporting some sort of interruption this summer, such as cancellations or road closures.
Barkerville Historic Town and Park, a provincially operated attraction, has also reported a 54 per cent decline in visits comparing July 7 to Aug. 21 this year to last year, which caused a 50 per cent drop in net revenue.
“If Barkerville is down, the surrounding privately owned businesses that provide accommodations, hospitality, food and other activities will also be down and those impacts will be much harder on those private entities,” Lange said.
Businesses are encouraged to contact their customers and reassure them it is still safe to travel in an effort to avoid cancellations. Lange said businesses are also being told to share photos of their sites on social media so people can see the region is safe and accessible.
Lange said Destinations B.C. has a marketing campaign underway to better inform travellers that most of the province remains safe to explore but it’s expected that losses to the industry will be significant once the total numbers for the season are calculated.