New hotels in Merritt to accommodate rise in tourism

Jun 9, 2016 | 12:26 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — Two new hotels being built off the Coquihalla Highway in Merritt are making room for more tourists that are coming to the Thompson-Nicola. 

Visitation has been on the rise over the last few years, with hotel stays up across the region. The Canadian dollar has more people coming to B.C., and the City of Merritt is preparing to accommodate that influx of tourists.

The hotels, a Best Western and Comfort Inn, are both scheduled to open this fall and will provide another 160 rooms in Merritt. 

“It’s something we’re very excited about, we’re looking forward to both the hotels coming in,” says Mayor of Merritt Neil Menard. “Both are owned and being built by local families. I think it’s going to be two of the type of hotels we need in the community for conferences and committee meetings and that type of stuff.” 

While Kamloops is known as the Tournament Capital, Merritt has its fair share of tournaments, and as more visitors come to town, more accommodations are needed. 

“We have a lot of tourism, and we’re working hard to increase the tourism. But also last winter we had a couple of hockey tournaments where we didn’t have enough hotel rooms in the city in order to accommodate the families,” says Menard. “They had to drive back and forth from Kamloops.”