"One thing we've learned from the Fort McMurray fires is, 'what you have around you is home,'" he said on Monday. "My wife had the conversation with my seven-year-old daughter this morning in the hotel room.
While the order is limited to certain communities in the Interior — Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon — it is having a ripple effect on communities throughout the region. Kevin Klippenstein, who runs the agritourism business Klippers Organic in the community of Cawston west of Oliver, says he's had to deal with numerous cancellation requests over the weekend as the province's travel restrictions came into place.
Klippenstein says he understands the province put in the order for a reason, but tourism businesses are already struggling to pay off"That CEBA loan, extend it for another year," he said. "Make it so that we don't have to pay it this year."Lisanne Ballantyne, the CEO of Tourism Kelowna, said in a statement Sunday that the province's ban will affect the tourism sector, but the current focus remains on the wildfire response effort.