Vernon’s summer tourism season has been busy so far

Aug 20, 2025 | 6:00 AM

The City of Vernon has had a fairly successful summer tourism scene so far this year.

Torrie Silverthorn, Manager of Tourism Vernon, provided Vernon Matters with some highlights of the season so far, showing Vernon has had a lot of visitors.

Silverthorn said in an email that hotels were reporting a busy summer, with July averaging an occupance rate of 85 to 90 per cent, which was five per cent higher than the same month the year before.

May also saw the highest hotel tax collection month on record, which Silverthorn said reflected a strong indicator of visitor demand.

“Vernon typically welcomes well over 1-million tourists each year, and all signs suggest we are on track to surpass that number in 2025,” the Vernon Tourism Manager told Vernon Matters.

Pay

Vernon's mayor and council pay going up as originally planned

15m ago

Official Community Plan

Vernon's new OCP officially adopted

20m ago

Shopping Interruption

Vernon's mall evacuated after fire alarm pulled

1h ago

“Vernon continues to prove itself as a resilient tourism destination, attracting leisure travelers while steadily building its group and event tourism base.”

Silverthorn noted hotels have mostly been filled by independent travelers this year, but there has been growing demand to fill conference, meeting and group spaces. Drawing in those types of visitors is a key part of Tourism Vernon’s strategy and budget, though it will require building long-term relationships and investments with those types of partners.

Tourism Vernon also noted the regulations on short-term rentals have reduced the number of units available to visitors, though that situation was being monitored as “those that completed the licensing process are reporting strong business.”

by Liam Verster

View Comments