Tourism took a major hit in some parts of the province because of the COVID-19 pandemic but it wasn’t too bad in the Shuswap according to a local houseboat operator.

Greg Kyllo, the principal owner of Twin Anchors Houseboat Vacations, is also the BC Liberal MLA for Shuswap, and says while things got better as the summer went on, it was a different story when the pandemic hit.

“I recall back in March, when COVID first hit our doorsteps, the phone was ringing off the hook with people cancelling reservations and you know as we saw at the start of what otherwise would be a pretty positive rental vacation season in the Shuswap, the early spring was just decimated,” he said on the NL Morning News.

Kyllo adds things started take a turn when the economy began to reopen. after almost no revenue in May.

“Things started to open up in June and most businesses here in the Shuswap were reporting a pretty successful July, August, and September and so despite the very dismal start to the season, most businesses here fared quite well,” he said.

Kyllo says domestic travellers are what saved the Shuswap from the fate that other areas of British Columbia experienced.

“If you go to other areas, Vancouver, southern Vancouver Island that rely heavily on international travelers, their businesses were absolutely decimated,” he said. “So I think most businesses in the Shuswap faired better that those organizations that might have relied on international travelers.”

The CEO of Tourism Kamloops, Beverley DeSantis, tells NL News it wasn’t a bad fall for many tourism operators in the area after a dismal summer.

“However, these new restrictions have shut us down so any hopes of recouping some of the lost money over the fall and shoulder season has gone away,” she added.

Kyllo is cautiously optimistic looking ahead to next year.

“Reservations for next year, I’m hearing from both hoteliers and from some of the houseboat companies and other tourism operators in the area that business is looking fairly good,” he said, noting a lot of things are still up in the air.

“A lot of that will hinge on how COVID decides to present itself over the remainder of this year and obviously the opportunity for potential vaccines, which we hear can be coming as early as the spring.”