Naramata Bench wine tours are popular amongst visitors.
(MEAGHAN ARCHER / iNFOnews.ca)
March 13, 2014 - 1:58 PM
PENTICTON -- Penticton’s tourism industry is looking to benefit as a result of a new flight service from Calgary to Penticton that was launched today by Jump On Flyaways.
And it’s not just the tourism industry that will benefit from Calgarians vacationing in Wine Country — it’s the whole city. Tourists, even if visiting on pre-planned packages, stimulate local business and bring general awareness to the area.
In recent years, Albertans have visited Penticton for its wine and food, as opposed to vacationing families, said Jessie Campbell, CEO of Tourism Penticton.
City officials hope that Jump On’s getaway package — that includes round-trip airfare, two-nights hotel stay and a wine tour -- will encourage more Calgarians to visit Penticton and increase the demand for a regular scheduled flight between the two cities.
Colleen Pennington, from the city’s economic development office said, the Jump On deal is a good first step to offering flights East out the Penticton Regional Airport.
“Ideally we’d have a regular flight to Calgary and back,” said Pennington.
There is large demand from Penticton residents to have regular flights to Calgary scheduled amongst the several daily flights to and from Vancouver.
The city has sent Air Canada, the airports sole carrier, plans and survey statistics showing demand for additional flights. But Air Canada doesn’t think there is enough demand, and people are fine flying through Vancouver, and backtracking if they are heading East.
If the Jump On program is successful that will be proof of demand, Pennington said. Regular flights to and from Calgary would encourage more Albertans to fly directly into Penticton, eliminating the trek South from Kelowna International Airport.
Residents who want to voice desire and generate demand for flights to Calgary can start with the Jump On program.
To contact the reporter for this story, e-mail Meaghan Archer at marcher@infotelnews.ca, or call 250-488-3065.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014