Numbers show that COVID-19 hasn’t been all bad for Kelowna | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kelowna News

Numbers show that COVID-19 hasn’t been all bad for Kelowna

Pedestrian traffic was up 99 per cent on Bernard Avenue after it was closed to vehicles this summer.
Image Credit: Submitted/City of Kelowna

As could easily be predicted, COVID-19 has had a negative impact on some of Kelowna’s business life this year.

That includes a 57 per cent drop in airport passengers, a 32 per cent increase in business closures (1,549 closed in 2020) and a 50 per cent drop in transit ridership.

Those figures are included in the annual Community Trends 2020 report going to Kelowna city council on Monday. It shows changes in the city through the end of the summer.

The report also has some surprising numbers such as overnight visitor trips climbing 7.5 per cent to 1.25 million.

Less surprising is the 99.3 per cent increase in e-commerce sales from 2019 and an 85 per cent increase in pedestrian activity on Bernard Avenue. It was closed to traffic for the summer to allow 26 temporary patios to be set up on the street so there would be more room for safe distancing at downtown restaurants.

Rail Trail trips were also up by 25 per cent.

The report is done annually to show how Kelowna has fared over the previous year but added a section on COVID-19 impacts this year.

The basic report shows that Kelowna has an estimated population of 138,000. That’s up 8.3 per cent in four years from 127,380 in the 2016 census.

The median household income increased by $6,224 to $74,851.

There are 2,068 housing units under construction with building permits issued for another 702. Sales of homes worth more than $1 million hit 118 this this year versus 115 last year and the cost of the median single family home went up three per cent to $705,000.


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