Salmon Arm’s visitor centre has seen a rise in paddle boating but a fall in the number of Albertan visitors.
“I wish I could say it was up, but we are actually down just shy of 900 people, year-to- date,” says Corryn Grayston, general manager at the Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce. “Most of that decline has taken place during the month of July.”
Grayston believes this decline was a result of a rainy and overly wet month.
“I think it has a lot to do with the flooding and the media over-exposure of the extent,” says Grayston. “It was really just relatively isolated to certain areas, but the representation was that the whole Shuswap was underwater. We had a tremendous amount of calls from people who had either booked accommodations or were planning trips, and were under the impression that roads were impassable because of water.
“We were able to take those calls and quell that paranoia… The concern is, of course, that lots of people wouldn’t call here necessarily. They would, instead, believe what was being reported. We couldn’t capture those people and get them back here, they just went on to other places for their vacation.”
According to Janice Dewitt, administrative assistant at the Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce, the area’s accommodation businesses were hit the hardest as a result of the flooding.
“It is not that they aren’t as popular, I think the weather had an impact on the people who were camping, using B & Bs, and the other accommodations in the area. I don’t think it was anything specific to the services they provide, just the rain and cold weather.”
Grayston explains that in the early part of summer, people are looking for the warm weather and that tends to be campers.
“May and June are primarily Europeans, Aussies and Kiwis that are camping,” says Grayston. “They are sort of a heartier stock. They are campers as opposed to fairweather tourists, so they may stay, but they still are only staying for a short period of time.”
“When the beaches are closed or underwater that really has a tremendous impact on us as well. We had boats that couldn’t launch and lots of docks that were closed, and the debris in the water made it challenging,” she says.
Grayston explains that the weather had a significant impact on July’s tourism rates as well.
“People are chasing the sun,” says Grayston. We would still get a fair amount of people into the visitor centre, but we couldn’t keep them here. They were moving on to sunnier skies and greener pastures so to speak.”
Grayston says that is where the visitor centre staff step in.
“Our function is that even if they aren’t staying here for the day, we try to get them to think about us on their way back, or even for their next vacation.”
Year-to-date the Salmon Arm visitor centre has seen 8,400 people come through their doors, with the leading tourists coming from other areas of British Columbia.
Albertan travellers have dropped from their normal number-one tourist position down to number two, with Europeans and Salmon Arm residents coming in behind.
“Believe it or not, we have a tremendous amount of locals who use the visitor centre as a resource,” says Grayston
Dewitt says she sees a number of people using the centre for vacation planing.
“We have a lot of people come in and say ‘Hey, I’m heading to this place,’ and so we try to carry a lot of guides from across B.C. so we can help them out,” says Dewitt.
As it has been in previous years, the major attractions in the area have been hiking and lake activities. Grayston says that the beaches and boat launches have attracted their fair share of visitors.
“We are really fortunate because we have this fabulous lake and it gets utilized,” says Grayston. However, the way the lake is being used has begun to change.
“In the past it tended to always be used by powers boats and the odd sail boat that would come out, but we are seeing that paddling is becoming really, extremely popular.”
“Lots of people who have never paddled in their life are coming into the visitor centre and wondering where they could rent a canoe or kayak to just get out on the water.”
“As usual, the Shuswap Trail Alliance does a number of new trails or improvements to existing trails and that is always popular,” says Grayston.
Another change has been that road cycling has also become increasingly popular in the area.
“We have had people come from the States to road cycle, and lots of people from the Midwest, like Saskatchewan, who have a good contingent that come down to road cycle.”
Agritourism is another draw for tourists in the area.
“Wineries are always popular, as well as areas like De Mille’s and Pedro Gonzales, because people are looking for locally made and locally sourced fruits vegetables and staples that have been locally procured.”
Grayston expects to see tourism numbers bounce back next year, and possibly increase with the help of the newly established Tourism Friendly program, which is expected to be in full swing by that time.
