More than a dozen mudslides hit major highways that lead into 100 Mile House in just the past two weeks. That, teamed with increasingly smoky skies in the South Cariboo, must have had an impact on local tourism.
Andre Kuerbis, board chair of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association (CCCTA), says it did.
“Oh we certainly have seen an impact. I mean, people are adjusting their travel schedules and that’s something you can feel as a tourism operator.”
Whether this is a province-wide trend or whether it’s a local issue, Kuerbis couldn’t say. And even within the Cariboo-Chilcotin, he says some towns feel it worse than others.
But one thing he says is for sure, there are definitely tourism operators in some areas feeling the impact of the mudslides and smoke.
“It’s peak season, after all, so it hurts,” he says.
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The tourism industry took such a hit last summer that there seemed to be an initial increase in this season’s numbers.
“I mean what we certainly saw is that a very high interest of people coming into the area from out of the country, from out of the province, but also from within the province, because we really tried to encourage people, ‘Hey, if you want to help the area and the impacted areas last year, come and spend your vacation here instead of going somewhere far away,’ and I really appreciated what we saw until July.
“But the last few weeks really made it again more serious,” he says. “So, I mean, we will see cancellations, we see them already.”
It’s still too early to tally tourism numbers, says Kuerbis, and depending on how the wind changes, the industry may be able to salvage the remainder of the season.
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But as it stands now, he says local tourism has become a “play-it-by-day kind of thing.”
As for tourists who already made it to town when the Air Quality Health Index hit ‘very high,’ Val Streber, the visitor information counsellor for the South Cariboo Visitor Centre, says they’re staying.
“We really haven’t had a lot of complaints,” she said. “They talk about it but they seem to be very accepting, that’s really good to hear.”
After last year, when tourists cancelled all their travel plans and stayed away from the area, Streber said she was worried the smoke would have the same effect.
“I think what it really is, is they’ve already booked their vacation for up here and it’s pretty hard to change it and the Okanagan and that has a lot more smoke than what we do. We’ve had people in saying it’s really, really bad down there.”
On Friday, Aug. 17, probably the worst day in terms of smoky skies, Streber said tourists that came in the visitor’s centre weren’t happy and were finding it difficult, some even wore paper masks, but they still stayed.
“And usually, when they cancel, they seem to be filled up just as fast.”
beth.audet@100milefreepress.net
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