This tourist region in British Colombia, Canada is known as the Okanagan is a region It’s known for its wineries and fruit orchards. The main city of Kelowna, on the shore of huge Okanagan Lake, is surrounded by pine forests and provincial parks. Kelowna’s downtown area incorporates waterfront City Park and a lakeside cultural district. The area around the cities of Kelowna, Vernon, and Kamloops is home to several ski resorts.
As reported in local media, real-time information sharing during emergencies is one of the tools being developed to keep visitors to the Okanagan safer this summer.
The last two summers of unprecedented wildfires were hard on tourism-dependent communities.
The B.C. government is providing a total of $200,000 in one-time grants to support regional destination marketing organizations’ emergency preparedness, including $25,000 to the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association.
“Timely, accurate information is essential in emergencies,” said Jennifer Rice, Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness in a local media statement.
“The tourism sector can play a critical role in keeping people safe, especially in rural and remote areas. This investment is helping the industry plan ahead so people can get the information they need, when they need it, keeping visitors safe and local economies strong.”
On behalf of the Thompson Okanagan Region, we applaud the province in recognizing the importance of improving our crisis management and in providing emergency management funds in order to make this a reality,” said Glenn Mandziuk, president and CEO, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association.
“In a short time, we will announce the addition of a crisis management co-ordinator in the Thompson-Okanagan to work closely with our other regional partners. Through this process, we envision accurate, timely and concise information will be more readily available to residents and tourists alike during emergency situations.”
The government announced the grants as part of B.C. Tourism Week, May 26-June 2, 2019, which highlights the industry’s vital importance to B.C.’s economy by creating jobs, strengthening communities and promoting year-round tourism in all four corners of the province.
વધુ મહિતી: www.okanagan.com
