At least one Okanagan campground is getting ahead of the new travel restrictions and cancelling bookings.

Grist Mill has decided to cancel and refund all out of town bookings for their campground.

“One of our guiding principles during this pandemic is that the health and safety of our visitors, staff and community are more important than trying to do business as usual,” said Chris Mathieson, general manager at Grist Mill.

“We’ve decided, as a proactive step, to immediately cancel all our campground bookings for people who live outside of the Interior Health region until the May Long Weekend. (If you’ve already booked with us, you’ll hear from us directly very soon.),” said the Grist Mill Facebook post.

“It’s hard to give up the (necessary) revenue, but it’s absolutely essential that we do our part to keep transmission of COVID down so that we can hopefully enjoy a more normal summer.

On Monday, Premier John Horgan announced new travel restrictions which will be in place through at least the May long weekend, and will include “random audits” of people travelling between health regions. Non-essential travel outside of your health region is restricted until after the May long weekend, he said.

It’s unclear what hotel operators are supposed to do about travellers that have already booked hotels in the Okanagan from out of town.

Signs will go up near the Alberta border reminding them of B.C.’s travel restrictions.

B.C. tourism operators are mostly supportive of the new travel ban because they can’t afford to lose another summer.

For now, Mathieson is hoping people will support Grist Mill by buying a season’s pass or gift certificates.

If you can afford it, please consider buying a 2021 Seasons Pass to our site or a gift certificate for you or a loved one, he said.

READ MORE: Can’t afford to lose another summer to COVID-19

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