It was supposed to be a big year for B.C. hotels but that’s likely to change because of COVID-19.

President and CEO of the BC Hotel Association, Ingrid Jarrett ,says industry members believed this would be another strong year.

“Conference Board of Canada and CBRE and all of the experts were telling us that British Columbia was once again going to lead the country in tourism and hospitality stats, and hotel occupancy and revenue, and that growth was going to be 3.2 per cent from 2019,” Jarrett tells NL News.

“There was lots of talk about caution in the marketplace and that kind of thing. But that conversation has been going on for quite some time, and I think people really believed that we were going to have another very strong year.”

Jarrett says in just a three-day span last month, hotel bookings went from more than 60 per cent to below 10 per cent, on average, across B.C.

(Photo: coasthotels.com)