Prince Rupert residents ready to travel, supportive but tentative on welcoming visitors

With Premier John Horgan raising the green flag for travel yesterday across British Columbia, a new survey from the Small Business Recovery Task Force indicates that Rupertites are anxious to hit the road, while somewhat tentative when it comes to receiving visitors this summer.

From their Findings as part of their Resident Travel Sentiment Survey the Task Force learned that 76 percent of those who took the survey are planning to travel outside of the city this summer, while 56 percent don't anticipate having any friends or relatives stop in for a visit in the months to come.

The data compiled also indicates that while only 15 percent of those survey expressed a feeling of not being comfortable with people from elsewhere coming here, the largest sample that of 49 percent are tentative on the idea, while 36 percent have no worries and are comfortable with out of town visitors.

On the local scene, respondents have taken well with the Phase 2 reopening for local businesses in the region, with 71 percent considered comfortable in supporting local businesses in person again, while 27 percent are tentative and 2 percent still uncomfortable with the idea.

The survey will help Tourism Prince Rupert, The Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce and Prince Rupert's Economic Development office work towards restarting the tourism industry on the North Coast.

“The tourism sector has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism Prince Rupert is committed to supporting our local tourism economy through our recovery marketing strategy for this summer. However, now more than ever, it’s important for us to understand how local residents feel about visitors to our community. This survey will be an incredibly useful tool as we continue to plan for tourism recovery in a way that is both supportive and sensitive to residents’ concerns.” Ceilidh Marlow Executive Director, Tourism Prince Rupert

Among the replies from respondents was a look at the travel ambitions with the largest volume of travel both in and out of the North Coast expected to be province wide and not just limited to the regional area.

The survey also reviewed how Prince Rupert residents are responding to the new safety measures put in place at local businesses and services, with the provision of hand sanitizer options and contactless payment options among the measures most favourably received.

You can explore more of the survey and dig a bit deeper into their data delivery here

The survey was hosted on the City of Prince Rupert's  Rupert Talks engagement platform

For more notes on Tourism on the North Coast see our archive page here, a wider overview of the commercial sector in Prince Rupert can be found here.