It’s been a challenging summer with wildfires and the resulting smoke, and some businesses in Castlegar have felt the effects. Castlegar and District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tammy Verigin-Burk says they’re always receiving updates from local accommodations and tourist sites at the Visitor Information Centre. She says there have definitely been less campers in some cases, especially at Syringa Provincial Park. “There’s kind of a thematic piece that we’ve seen to this, is that it was the Provincial and Passcreek campground that were the most impacted. And so, some of the other campgrounds where maybe we’d see a lot of RVs and so forth, they didn’t see the impact.” She says there were still out of town campers, but the number of local visitors drastically decreased. She says the hotels have been very busy with wildfire crews coming to the area and vacationers altering their plans due to smoke.
The number of visitors to the Information Centre have increased this summer. Verigin-Burk says many people came in looking for help on how to change their travel plans and avoid the smoke. They also heard a lot of concern after the Provincial state of emergency was declared. “We had calls from England of people that were looking to cancel their trips because of the state of emergency in the province of BC. So what we find, and I know a lot of the other visitor centres find in the province, there’s a lot of work to do to educate people on, you know, we’re all still open for business.”
She says the outdoor attractions have definitely seen a decline in their visitors, however some of the indoor activities, for example the museum, haven’t seen the same result.
Verigin-Burk says one thing people can do to help, is get out and support local. “With some of the impacts that have happened, you know, even to say Little Bear Golf Course or different places like that, the locals need to go out and support those places and drive those numbers up, so that they can have a successful season.”
She says they’re also encouraging people to download the Explorers App where you can collect points to spend at local businesses, after visiting local attractions.