By Chad Klassen

Tourism Kamloops boasts 1.8 million visitors, $449 million in economic benefits in 2017

Apr 24, 2018 | 5:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — 2017 marked one of the best years – if not, the best – for tourism in Kamloops. More than 1.8 million people came through our city last year, and Tourism Kamloops expects another bump again in 2018. 

The CEO of Tourism Kamloops Beverley DeSantis made a presentation to city council on Tuesday, and in it she outlined the tourism numbers experienced last year and the economic impact, bringing in $270 million dollars in money directly spent by visitors, and $449 million of total economic benefits. 

“Primarily, we have drive traffic from B.C. and Alberta and the northwest United States. We also are targeting our international partners in Germany and the UK, Australia and New Zealand,” notes DeSantis. “We find that those folks love our great outdoors and our natural resources, so Kamloops is definitely an outdoor playground. We also have a vibrant festival and music scene here.”

DeSantis says she’s excited about the summer tourism season to come and expects another boost in numbers. 

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“We’ve got our passions that we’re working towards in 2018. We’re really focused on golf, mountain biking, skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. Arts and food and our wine and ale trails,” DeSantis says. 

“It’s getting very competitive in the marketplace now with everybody understanding the economic benefit of tourism for minimal investment from the taxpayer. We’re finding there is a lot of competition, even in and around our own city. So we’re still projecting a 3% growth on the wonderful numbers we had for 2017.”