Despite a slower than normal year, the CEO of Tourism Kamloops says her team has been doing their best to promote the region to people.

Bev DeSantis says her team has been out and about in their mobile visitor centre looking to engage both residents and visitors.

“Our Bold Street Teams have been at the farmers markets,” she said. “We’re on the bike trails, we down in Riverside Park, and we’ve launched our Passport. Our passport is designed to get locals and regional visitors to come into Kamloops.”

Through the upcoming fall and winter, DeSantis says it is important for Kamloopsians to remember to keep supporting local businesses.

“We need to work with government and industry and we need to ensure that everybody is excited about what we have, and that translates into a faster recovery,” she added.

“Kamloops is an engaged community that really supports tourism and understands the business behind tourism. So when we do have visitors come, we’re welcoming and friendly. There’s a lot of wide open spaces. We are ideally situated to weather this storm.”

DeSantis previously said it was a ‘discouraging’ summer for tourism in the Tournament Capital but it was not unexpected because of COVID-19. But she notes with wide open spaces for people to explore, Kamloops is ideally situated to weather the effects of the pandemic.

Last week, the President of the Kamloops Accommodation Hotel Association told NL News they’re pleased to see the federal wage subsidy extended to summer 2021. But Tyson Andrykew says it was disappointing to see just a $100-million for tourism from the provincial government, instead of the $680-million the sector was asking for.