The CEO of Tourism Kamloops says they will be looking at ways to make up lost revenue this year due to the coronavirus outbreak around the world.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Beverley DeSantis says Tourism Kamloops and many other B.C. tourism organizations are bracing for a reduction in visitors, especially those from Asia.

“The fact that this is where it originated,” she said. “We’re not anticipating at this point, too many cancellations out of our primary international markets – the UK and Germany as far as Kamloops is concerned. But it is expected to decrease if this continues as people will want to stay closer to home.”

She says Tourism Kamloops is also working with the Rocky Mountaineer to mitigate impacts there, as the train makes an overnight stop in Kamloops through the summer, bringing thousands of visitors to the Tournament Capital.

“We are looking to replace those overnight visitors but primarily when we go out into the international marketplace, we are targeting heavily in the UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand,” noted DeSantis. “We have just now entered the India market.”

To help offset the loss in revenue, DeSantis says Tourism Kamloops will be redirecting some of its international marketing budget this year to try and instead attract more ‘local visitors’ to Kamloops.

“So places like B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and Ontario market, and encourage those folks to visit us in British Columbia as the risk of COVID-19 in Canada is still low, which will be appealing to travellers,” DeSantis said, urging Kamloopsians to staycation in the area to make up for any lost dollars out of Asia.

Yesterday, BC’s Medical Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry urged people to stay at home over the spring break and avoid travel outside of Canada due to the coronavirus.