The CEO of Tourism Kamloops says it wasn’t a bad fall for many tourism operators in the area after a dismal summer.

“It was very bad compared to last year but not bad as compared to numbers above what we had been budgeting,” Beverley DeSantis told NL News. “However, these restrictions have shut us down so any hopes of recouping some of the lost money over the fall and shoulder season has gone away.”

With no international travellers, DeSantis says most of the tourists to Kamloops this year have been from the Lower Mainland and Alberta. Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry’s restrictions included a ban on non-essential travel across British Columbia until at least Dec. 7.

“When policies come down from the provincial government, they are welcomed as a community but we do need to be a lot more vigilant as a society to lockdown and do what we all need to do to save our communities and save our businesses,” she added.

“We’ve pulled all our advertising that would ask people outside of Kamloops to come into Kamloops. This is what most destinations are doing at this time based on the non-essential travel ban provincially.”

DeSantis is again appealing to people to wear masks and follow all of the public health guidelines that are in place so things can return to some kind of normal soon.

“Nobody wants to go back to where we were in March and yet, here we are,” she added, noting its people behaviour and social gatherings and not tourism that has led to the recent rise in cases in the province.