Preparations underway for U.S. travellers coming to Prince George

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Much of the American tourists Prince George sees are those travelling to and from Alaska. Some also just travel to visit the area.

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“We are indeed excited to start seeing more Americans coming. I know that they’re ready because we already have tons of reservations. People actually thought that it would start earlier, but they’re still not allowed to cross the border, but they’re saying ‘oh yeah, we’re coming on the 9th.'” said Hierl-Steinbauer.

Normally, Elke Hierl-Steinbauer says that she sees at least 250 parties from the U.S. during the summer. But given the late decision into opening the border, the manager says she might not see a number like that until next year.

“I will say it will be very interesting but we will not recover the entire season obviously, but we have a good chance to make up on some of the losses that we experienced due to COVID.” said Hierl-Steinbauer.

It’s a similar conclusion that Tourism Prince George is coming to. In the past few years, Prince George saw at least 900 groups from the states visiting the city. Last year that number dropped to just seven.

“Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see how the rest of this summer goes. Typically with a lot of those RV travellers coming from the states, they come earlier in the season, so we’re not entirely sure if we’re gonna see a big influx of them coming in August or not. I think really a lot of it will be prepping for 2022 and seeing what comes back in 2021 getting ready for that.” said Colin Carson, CEO of Tourism Prince George.

While Tourism PG wants to get that number back up to pre-pandemic numbers, Carson says that the focus right now is getting more Canadian travellers to come to the North.

“I think realistically we’re looking at 2022 for american travellers, that being said right now we’re kinda in market in B.C. and Alberta mostly so those are the travellers we’re focusing on right now.” said Carson.

The Bon Voyage Inn says they’re getting ready for the Americans anyways. They’re only concern right now is having enough staff.

“We’re trying to hire actually, which seems to be a little difficult at the moment to find staff, but yes we have prepared and are prepare so we’re good to go.” said Hierl-Steinbauer.