Tourism Squamish and the District of Squamish have been imploring people to stay away from town and for a good reason.
But the decrease in visits in what is usually a busy time of the year is wreaking havoc on the local tourism economy.
Hotel occupancy data collected by Tourism Squamish offers a snapshot of this damage. In March, overall occupancy dipped to 25 % compared to 64 % in the same month in 2019.
Due to the decline, revenue per room was the lowest in the last six years.
Many Squamish hotels and motels, however, still remain open, for essential workers and guests requiring mid to longer-term stays.
Meanwhile, Tourism Squamish has partnered with the Hotel Association of Canada, and the BC Hotel Association in asking hotel owners to complete an important survey, from which the data will be shared with key decision makers in BC.
Tourism Squamish has also stopped advertising, resulting in 28 % reduction in website traffic on exploresquamish.com.
Tourism Squamish says it will keep measuring the impact the pandemic is having on the local tourism economy.
“We continue to reach out to our partners and officials with conversations, surveys and webinars, ensuring the impact is understood and a variety of resources are available,” Tourism Squamish said.
Tourism Squamish has now launched the third COVID-19 Indicator survey to gauge the effects of the disease on local tourism.
As many as 98 % of Tourism Squamish members have been impacted by COVID-19, according to the previous surveys. Of those 77 % say they have experienced an extreme impact, with a critical downward shift in revenues.
As many as 66 % have closed down, and only 34 % are open but have reduced operations and business hours.
On a positive note, however, tourism operators have already begun to think about recovery, which wasn’t evident in the initial survey, Tourism Squamish noted.
