Kamloops sees large spike in European visitors

Dec 22, 2016 | 3:38 PM

KAMLOOPS — To this day, tourism remains one of the largest industries in the City of Kamloops.

According to Tourism Kamloops, visitors injected more than 200 million dollars into the local economy last year, with this year’s numbers expected to be even higher.

But turns out it isn’t just tournament athletes and business employees staying in our city.

According to the B.C. government, international visitors to the province is up 12 % this year, with Kamloops seeing an impressive spike of its own.

Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverley DeSantis says there are a number of pulls attracting visitors to the city. 

“Our burgeoning wine and craft brewery industry, our arts and culture, our outdoor playground,” said DeSantis.

According to DeSantis, 1.6 million people visited the city in 2016, with visits from Washington State up 14.5%.

“There’s a big sale in Canada right now, we’re 30% off,” joked DeSantis. 

With European visits also up 20% in the first three-quarters of this year, it appears Kamloops is earning its place on the B.C map, with the Rocky Mountaineer delivering a large number of visitors. 

“Rocky mountaineer is projecting a 10% increase in visitorship next summer,” said DeSantis. “We just have to make sure those folks come and enjoy the short time they have with us in Kamloops and will come back.”

The Kamloops Airport has also seen an increase in Australian and European visitors, with city accomodations such as Hotel 540 also seeing more overseas guests. 

“For us, we’ve probably seen a five per cent increase in international travel this year,” said Bryan Pilbeam, Vice President and General Manager at Hotel 540. “They like to travel up to Wells Grey Provincial Park and through the valley.”

Hotel 540 guest Patricia Dressell said this is her and her friends’ first trip to Kamloops. 

“We’re coming skiing which we’re really excited about,” said Dressell. 

The Australian native says she heard about Valemount’s heli-skiing in her home city of Melbourne and had to squeeze it into her Christmas travels. 

“At ski shows and on the mountains we ski on, people know about it,” said Dressell. “We belong to a ski lodge in Victoria, Australia and one of my friend’s mates did this last year and had a big smile on his face”

Tourism Kamloops says it hopes to attract more overseas and American travellers by using more digital and social media marketing in 2017.

“We know who we are,” said DeSantis. “We know who we want to attract, so we just want to continue to go after those folks and continue to have them have a great experience.”