Wildfires and poor air quality caused Kelownas tourism sector to suffer in 2017 and 2018, but with occupancy rates back up, the City is thinking of better ways to attract visitors year round.
Kelowna's tourism numbers are in and not surprisingly they are better than the last two years.
However, according to Tourism Kelowna President Lisanne Ballantyne, visitation patterns are changing.
“I think what we're seeing is different, just because of the past two years specifically we've had with some of the smoke from provincial wildfires, is we're changing to a bit of a last minute booking scenario. We are, year to date, more than one per cent up. We had a record setting May for occupancy rates but those bookings are coming in very last minute,” said Ballantyne.
These types of bookings are especially concerning for tourism businesses, as late bookings prevent business owners from projecting their revenue for the year.
“Just like any business, they’re trying to project their revenue and what the rest of their year is going to look like. So it can be stressful not to see the numbers booking two and three months in advance and instead they’re coming in very last minute.”
Ballantyne stated that people want the assurance of great air quality and weather when they get here.
Wildfires and poor air quality caused Kelowna's tourism sector to suffer in 2017 and 2018, but with occupancy rates back up, the City is thinking of better ways to attract visitors year round.
According to Ballantyne, when travelling, people are influenced by other people who are already in the market.
"The hashtags #realtimekelowna and #realtimeokanagan really became popular last year. We get our businesses and our tourism partners to all take real time postings of the great weather we are having,” said Ballantyne.
The goal is to provide some comfort to people that are on their way to Kelowna and people who are maybe thinking of booking a vacation here, that the skies are clear and the weather is beautiful.
