By Greg Fry

Tourism sector stays hot in Kamloops

May 31, 2018 | 2:20 PM

KAMLOOPS — A great first quarter in Kamloops when it comes to tourism growth.

Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverley DeSantis says hotel stays were up 18.5 per cent in January, February and March.

To what does she attribute the big increase?

“We’ve rebranded. We’ve been out there very targeted on who we’re marketing to. The media attention that we’re getting through our new brand and focusing on those visitors that would find most benefit in visiting Kamloops.”

DeSantis says those people include European visitors from the United Kingdom and Germany. Tourists from Australia and New Zealand and their drive markets including visitors from Washington State, Oregon and California.

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“So, very much spending our time and money in those areas and shifting to a real digital focused marketing approach which allows us to reach a lot more people with a lot less investment.”

She notes last year’s devastating wildfires in BC haven’t had a negative impact on this year’s numbers so far and is hopeful the momentum will continue through the peak tourist months of June, July and August.

The hot first quarter follows last year’s growth, which she says provided close to a half-a-billion dollars in economic benefits to the city.