A short trip across Okanagan Lake on the William R. Bennett bridge will have you in the growing city of West Kelowna, which was incorporated as a municipality in 2007. As of 2021, more than 36,000 people call West Kelowna home—between 2016 and 2021, the region's population grew by 10.5%. West Kelowna is part of the Greater Westside economic region, which also includes Westbank First Nation, Peachland, and surrounding rural areas.
In addition to being a desirable place to call home, the area is full of tourism-related businesses and remarkable experiences for visitors and residents to enjoy—here are just a handful:
- Explore the Westside Wine Trail to taste the flavours of the valley.
- Savour the best of the Okanagan at one of the area's restaurants, including several at local wineries.
- Hike at Rose Valley Regional Park, Mount Boucherie, or any one of the other numerous hikes in the area to take in expansive views of Okanagan Lake and the Valley.
- Pick fresh fruit at area orchards like Paynter's Fruit Market.
- Have fun with family or friends at 19 Greens Premier Putting Course or hit the greens at Two Eagles Golf Course or Shannon Lake Golf Club.
We connected with a few West Kelowna businesses to find out more about what tourism means to them and how it positively impacts their business and community.
A View to Remember Bed & Breakfast
Contributed by Owners, Sue and Dann Willis
Photo credit: A View to Remember Bed & Breakfast
Q. How does tourism positively impact your business or organization?
A: Eighty-five percent of our business is guests from every corner of the world. The other 15% is made up of business guests and family/ friends of our neighbours. We enjoy hosting everyone and sharing our little piece of heaven just off the Westside Wine Trail in West Kelowna. We so enjoy all our international guests—their excitement and enthusiasm for our area reiterate every day how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place. Someone is always sharing a new experience they discovered somewhere in the Valley that we are not aware of, so we are always learning about new things to discover and pass along to the next guests.
Q: What value does tourism bring to West Kelowna?
A: We are happy to refer our guests to enjoy everything in our immediate neighbourhood—there is such a wide and unique variety to enjoy. We now have amazing restaurants, breweries, and wineries all within walking distance of our B&B and we are happy to support them in person, and by sending our guests, which is very appreciated by all our local businesses. For many of our guests who are looking to be away from a big city, they now can enjoy their time here with everything they need close by without having to venture into the city centre of Kelowna.
Q: What do you value most about our local tourism industry?
A: The biggest value is that our region attracts people from around the world. It always amazes us that such faraway guests know to visit our area and find our B&B. We enjoy learning more about different areas of the world and hearing about our guests’ travels and how they came to travel to our area.
Q: How has your business adapted or evolved through the pandemic?
A: As tourism was the hardest hit sector, it has certainly been a bit of a road back. It required us to make a lot of changes! The safety of our guests is paramount and many of the originally recommended health guidelines for accommodations have been incorporated into our day-to-day operations. We have noticed that our guests are requiring a lot more care and many have preferred to make reservations over the phone to be able to talk to someone to make sure the information they are getting online is current and correct. They are also looking for more unique and local recommendations in advance of their trip instead of waiting to ask when they arrive. We have increased our guest experience and interactions prior to arrival. Although the main tourist season has been shortened over the last 2 years, we are finding more guests are travelling this off-season and we are currently experiencing higher than normal guest counts.
Q: How has tourism contributed to the growth in West Kelowna?
A: When we took over the B&B in 2001 there were only four wineries in our immediate neighbourhood, now there are 10 within walking distance and more within a short drive. It has turned our B&B and West Kelowna into a destination rather than a nice place to stop. We have certainly seen that our guests are staying longer to enjoy West Kelowna.
Q: What other West Kelowna business/organization would you recognize for their collaborative efforts, resiliency, and/or innovation over the past two years?
A: Being a small business, we really valued being a part of the BC Tourism Resiliency Program through the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) with their continued support as we navigated through the pandemic. Having someone understand the difficulties that tourism was facing during the last two years for information, support, ideas, and resources was a blessing. We are also part of TOTA's Biosphere Commitment Program and through the BC Tourism Resiliency Decade of Action Program, they provided a lot of education and support to help us work on expanding our sustainability efforts and giving us a focus to work on our sustainability projects and goals during all the lockdowns/travel restrictions and the shortened travel seasons and connect with other Okanagan sustainable businesses.
Q. What is your favourite spot or hidden gem in West Kelowna that you’d recommend to visitors or area residents looking to be tourists in their own town?
A: There are a few too many to mention, but our top picks are: Kalamoir Regional Park and Gellatly Nut Farm to enjoy the beach and scenery, and for a leisurely walk. Blu Saffron Bistro and Everest Indian Restaurant are our top favourites for unique restaurants.
Kalala Organic Estate Winery
Contributed by Marketing Manager, Mayu Tanaka
Photo credit: Kalala Organic Estate Winery
Q. How does tourism positively impact your business or organization?
A. Tourism has always been a major part of our business and community growth. Okanagan wine attracts tourists; thanks to the increase in tourism, the growth of the Okanagan wine industry was reinforced. This became known as Wine Country. Tourism is also helping the wine community stay close to each winery. Most of the people in this industry love to learn about the other wineries and recommend them to customers. We have two neighbouring wineries, and we always recommend them to our customers. If we get questions about lunch or dinner recommendations, we often suggest wineries with restaurants. Tourism helps our wineries and the wine community grow and create better wines.
Q. What value does tourism bring to West Kelowna?
A. Tourism creates good customer traffic, which leads to economic growth. Tourists come to West Kelowna for good quality wine and service. Tourism definitely provides wineries in West Kelowna with more opportunities to grow.
Q: What do you value most about our local tourism industry?
A: We value the people in our local tourism industry. The main component of the industry is locals. We have so many small and/or family-owned stores, restaurants and wineries. There are always great stories behind the local businesses and a great atmosphere to make you feel welcomed and relaxed.
Q: How was your business adapted or evolved through the pandemic?
A: We took the pandemic as an opportunity to improve our work environments and educate our staff. Thankfully, we received so much support from local customers and return customers to maintain our business throughout the pandemic. By taking the Eco-Efficiency Program, we reviewed the winery’s power and water usage and waste and recycling efficiencies. Through this assessment, we are seeking a more efficient method of energy usage and waste reduction, including the use of solar energy. We also participated in Work Efficiency training to include the professional third-person point of view to seek a more efficient work system and better communication as a team.
Q: What other West Kelowna business/organization would you recognize for their collaborative efforts, resiliency, and/or innovation over the past two years?
A: Probably all the wineries in this area had a hard time the past two years. Most wineries needed to shut down their wine shops for a while and even after opening the doors again, we still faced a rapid decrease in visitors. We recognized that many communications were made in the wine community during the pandemic. We shared both information and situations. Slowly, more events with other wineries started to be planned. At the same time, many local businesses and communities approached us to collaborate to offer new services and events. It was great to see all different kinds of businesses trying to connect with each other.
Q. What is your favourite spot or hidden gem in West Kelowna that you’d recommend to visitors or area residents looking to be tourists in their own town?
A. Glen Canyon Regional Park is a great place to visit. Darbar Indian Cuisine Restaurant is a nice hidden restaurant that serves great Indian food. There are so many small local restaurants here. It is always fun to ask locals or even at wineries their favourites and explore this town.
The Cove Lakeside Resort
Contributed by Director, Sales & Marketing, Bobby Bissessar
Photo credit: Shawn Talbot Photography
Q: What value does tourism bring to West Kelowna?
A: Tourism contributes to the development of infrastructure and services in the local community. Overall, the revenue that it drives for local businesses like ours is critical for the continued prosperity of all stakeholders in the city. In the short term, we can see the monetary and social value but one of the key impacts that tourism has here in West Kelowna is that it showcases what we have to offer as a community in terms of lifestyle and standard of living, which in turn results in population growth. We are becoming a sought-after destination for young professionals, young families, and retirees.
Q: What do you value most about our local tourism industry?
A: The local tourism industry thrives on collaboration and a sense of pride in our community. What is most valuable is the interconnectedness and commitment of stakeholders in the industry to create unparalleled guest and client experiences.
Q: What other West Kelowna business/organization would you recognize for their collaborative efforts, resiliency, and/or innovation over the past two years?
A: I would like to recognize the following organizations for their commitment to the growth and development of the tourism industry and for their partnership and collaborative efforts over the years: The Greater Westside Board of Trade (GWBOT), Westside Wine Trail Members, and our current resort winery partners, Frind Estate Winery, Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery, and Quails’ Gate Estate Winery.
Q: What is your favourite spot or hidden gem in West Kelowna that you’d recommend to visitors or area residents looking to be tourists in their own town?
A: Fun Fact: The Cove Lakeside Resort is located in the serene and picturesque Gellatly Bay (Okanagan Lake) in West Kelowna, next to the Gellatly Nut Farm and a short walk from Glen Canyon Park.
To learn more about all West Kelowna and the Greater Westside has to offer, check out the Visit Westside website.
Want to take part in our Value of Tourism series? Email me at your convenience to discuss further.
The Value of Tourism
Prior to the pandemic, tourism in the Central Okanagan was a $2.1 billion dollar industry. As a vital economic driver in the region, there is no doubt of the value that tourism brings, generating close to 13,000 jobs, $443 million in visitor spending, and $204 million in tax revenues for local, provincial, and federal programs and infrastructure. The value of tourism, however, is not only economic, as the industry contributes positively to the quality of life of our region’s residents, who can enjoy world-class amenities, events, and attractions year-round, alongside visitors.
