Communities in BC brace themselves for economic disruption as travel is discouraged

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Rysz estimated that 60-70% of the municipality’s economic activity depends on Alberta tourism.

He said Sicamous would feel the financial pinch, but he recognized the need for those travel guidelines to curb the growing spread of COVID-19 in the province.

BC health officials reported 539 new cases of the virus on Thursday, along with one more death. There were 321 COVID-19-related deaths in BC

Admissions increased to 217, with 59 people in intensive care.

There were 6,861 cases of COVID-19 active throughout BC on Thursday.

“I absolutely recognize that tourism is important to our communities, to our economy,” Henry said at a press conference.

“The challenge we are facing though is that people are coming to BC from these other jurisdictions. . . we ask people who will come to BC in the next two or four weeks if they can postpone their trip here, they should. “

Those who still intend to visit the province must “be aware that the expectation is that they will follow the orders we have in place here,” Henry added.

“These orders are enforceable.”

The day before, BC Premier John Horgan called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to implement a national strategy to discourage non-essential travel between provinces.

He said those from other provinces shouldn’t visit BC unless it is essential to their business or well-being.

BC ski resorts near the Alberta border expect a much slower winter due to restrictions on international travel and provincial guidelines.