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If you walk along the streets of downtown Kelowna on a weekend it is sure to be packed, and according to the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, a lot of the traffic has been tourists.
"We have certainly seen lots of people visiting the area. Talking to our partners in the communities last week and certainly them talking to the accommodation operators and activity operators we are certainly a busy area for sure right from Valemount through to Osoyoos," said Ellen Walker-Matthews, chief executive officer of TOTA.
Although June numbers aren't available yet, Walker-Matthews says May's numbers were strong.
"We are still tracking behind as a province in May behind 2019, so way ahead of 2020 and 2021. Still a little bit behind 2019, but I believe in the Thompson Okanagan when the numbers come out we are going to see that we were actually ahead in this region."
Walker-Matthews says the majority of tourists are Canadian, with B.C. residents atop the list.
"International is starting to come back, but it is slower to come back and certainly with some of the challenges we are seeing with airlines is not going to help that situation. British Columbia has always been our strongest market and they are very strong here right now."
According to TOTA, activity on regional mountains has been quieter than normal.
"I know our mountains have said that people are used to June having a lot of sunshine and heat and so they are ready to go up the mountains to escape that and because we haven't really had that heat they are not seeing the number at the mountains yet," Walker-Matthews added.
TOTA says the dramatic spike in gas prices also brought concern that it would deter people from travelling.
"They are starting to come down a bit which is good news and we are hopeful that for somebody spending quite a bit of money on their trip the gas prices are probably not a big factor. They may do one less dinner or do one less activity, which is not great for our activity providers, so we are hoping that people take advantage of all the activities that are available to them."
