The province is seeking legal advice about an interprovincial travel ban but Tourism Smithers says the effect this would have on the Town’s tourism would depend on how long the ban would be in place.
According to Mayor Gladys Atrill, a short term disruption could be manageable but a long term disruption will have more serious consequences.
She added most of the local businesses forfeited the 2020 tourist season due to the pandemic and shifted their energy to 2021 domestic travel.
Atrill said businesses are getting bookings for the 2021 season reliant on the Canadian market.
“If the Canadian market were removed and replaced with only travellers from within British Columbia some of the consequences for some of the tourism businesses would be serious,” she said.
She also said if the interprovincial travel ban does go through it will not only affect tourism businesses.
“If there aren’t any visitors coming in there will be a ripple effect and I can’t really speak on how serious that is but it’s a part of the downtown community so, it won’t only be the tourism businesses that feel that we will feel it in our community,” Atrill said.
According to Atrill, tourism businesses have seen a surge in local traffic since the pandemic began due to the lack of ability to travel.
Premier John Horgan made the announcement on the possibility of an interprovincial travel ban last week.