https://drive.google.com/file/d/17xgKAn6NNxq_Znet6t4tYpUZ54Nn12Dh/view?usp=sharing

My audio story focused on how the pandemic affected tourism in the community of Revelstoke B.C.

Click on the link above to be directed to the audio story.

In B.C’s smaller towns, many businesses that rely on tourism are feeling the brunt of the lack of visitors ever since the COVID-19 pandemic halted travels.  

Cowichan Bay is a small community close to Duncan, B.C.,  and it hosts Coastal Bliss Adventures which offers various activities like hiking, kayaking and canoeing to local residents and visitors.

A community that usually sees old and new faces is barely having any visitors.  

Georgia Newsome, owner of Coastal Bliss Adventures says while the business is still running, not much new business is coming in.

The pandemic has brought a lot of disappointment to Coastal Bliss Adventures. Newsome says a lot of the multi day tours the business offers have been cancelled.

“It was a … nail biting waiting and watching game, to know what was going to open up, what might run [and], what might not run,” Newsome says.

“It was a very stressful time. But just waiting and waiting until you kind of decide ‘okay I’m [going to] make a decision for myself because I can’t manage this stressful situation any longer,” she says.

Newsome says she’s had less than 50 per cent of her usual business and uses the word “surviving” to describe what business has been like so far.

She says there are no guarantees [for business] this year and she’s hoping for brighter days.

Coastal Bliss Adventures is not the only business struggling as B.C. works to power through the pandemic and save the tourism industry.

Blackcomb Lodge is a hotel in the municipality of Whistler where there have reportedly been 103 cases of COVID-19 since the year began. The lodge is looking for ways to survive through the pandemic.

Blackcomb Lodge is just a few minutes walk from Whistler village centre and assistant manager Connor Palahicky says things have been challenging. He says there has been a struggle of trying to stray away from advertising travel but still wanting people to visit the hotel.

Before the provincial government implemented more restrictions, Palahicky says Blackcomb Lodge tried to switch their marketing campaign in order to attract more visitors from within the country, since most of their visitors normally ventured from the United States.

The government has now advised against residents travelling outside the province and taking non essential trips within the province. Blackcomb Lodge patiently waits for the next announcement from the provincial government.

As they wait, they adhere to safety practices so the few guests they receive can stay safe. The lodge has a mandatory mask policy, multiple sanitation sites, frequent cleanings and social distancing.

While Palahicky works with the COVID-19 restrictions and waits to see what new restrictions or guidelines the government might implement, Marketa Peterka, owner of Marketa’s bed and breakfast in Victoria says she feels like there’s a lack of [proper] guidelines.

“The government isn’t very clear on what exactly should be done [or] shouldn’t.” 

For Blackcomb Lodge, visitors are local and arriving from areas like North Vancouver, and for Marketa’s Bed and Breakfast, visitors are coming from anywhere.

Although Peterka’s business reduced since the pandemic began, she still receives guests from time to time, and the guests aren’t always locals.

“Some people just … don’t care. People [are] still travelling. We get people from the States,” she says.

Peterka has lost 90 per cent of her revenue as only a few people have been visiting her bed and breakfast so far. She says she’s received a loan from the government and is hoping to survive, but she wants better guidelines from the government.

She says she’s scared of the new COVID-19  variant and she would like for the government to stop international travels. Peterka adds that although the Canadian and American borders are supposed to be closed except for essential travels, people still fly into the country.

Researchers say if Canada fails to curb the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, trouble will emerge in March. They have recommended implementing stricter travel rules, isolation rules for travellers, as well as “[defining] essential travel and [stopping] non-essential travel.”

“I wish [the] regulations were much more clear. I wished [everyone] who travelled on an airplane would get tested straightaway and quarantine,” Peterka says.

Just like the rest of the world, Peterka hopes for the situation to improve.

The federal government has begun a Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program, which can help business owners receive “low-interest government-backed loans.”

Single businesses can receive a low interest loan of around $1 million, and bigger businesses can get around $6.5 million.