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Despite COVID-19 protocols that take 21 pages to list online, St. Eugene RV Park in the East Kootenays has shut down its sprawling facility to anyone but locals and cancelled 130 of 150 bookings through the May long weekend.
“I lost a lot of reservations,” said manager Richard Grimm at the park owned by five First Nations. It includes a golf course, spa and casino. “Most of the reservations are from Alberta. That’s where our money comes from. We refunded a lot of people.”
“I hate phoning people. I hate turning people away. I hate saying no to money,” he said. “But we’ve got to follow the orders.”
St. Eugene is one of hundreds of private and public campgrounds and thousands of hotels and other accommodations affected by a new travel ban under the B.C.’s Emergency Program Act through to May 25 that restricts recreational travel.
“It’s going to mean significant revenue losses, there’s no doubt about it,” said Ingrid Jarret, president of the B.C. Hotel Association. “People have been cancelling like crazy.”
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She said her members are committed to following the public health order not to book travellers from outside of their region.
The order divides the province into three regions — a combined zone for Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions, another one for the Northern/Interior regions and a third for Vancouver Island health region. One exception is that Hope, served by Fraser Health, will be lumped in with Northern/Interior health. Also, that area of the Central Coast served by Vancouver Coastal Health will be lumped in the Northern/Interior Health.
“Have a staycation not a vacation,” Jarret said. “Do not try to figure out how far you can go. Don’t say, good, now I can go see all the dinosaur tracks in Northern B.C.” if you don’t live there.
While Vancouverites can travel to Whistler under the provincial order, Whistler, Squamish, Pemberton and their surrounding district are asking non-locals to stay away until the order is lifted, on May 25 or later.
“Anyone from a community outside the Sea to Sky is being asked to postpone their leisure or recreational travel,” the mayors said in a news release. “Both day trips and overnight trips.”
Squamish Mayor Karen Elliott said the area wants to “work our way back from being a COVID-19 hot spot. We ask you to help us get through this last push by making a selfless choice and staying close to home.”
“Unnecessary travel is too risky right now,” said a joint statement signed by B.C.’s tourism minister and the heads of the province’s largest industry groups. “We are asking British Columbians to listen to Dr. Henry and follow all provincial health and solicitor general orders.”
Jarret said the industry doesn’t want to have to play the enforcer but it does want to be the educator.
“Stay local, have fund, stay outside, follow the rules, support your local restaurants and bars, go and have a picnic, wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance,” she said.
St. Eugene was looking forward to a better 2021 tourist season.
But those hopes have been pushed back five weeks.
“Already one-fifth of the season is gone,” he said. “But we’ve still got lots of the season left.”
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