The Quesnel Visitor Centre presented its 2017 Year End Report to the North Cariboo Joint Planning Committee on April 10.
Unsurprisingly, the wildfires last summer had a big impact on visitor numbers in 2017, with the number of tourists coming through the Visitor Centre’s doors down 31 per cent from 2016. The decline was mainly in the months of July, August and September.
In terms of overnight stays, Quesnel and area venues (including hotels, motels, campgrounds, B&Bs, resorts and lodges) recorded visitor numbers were down 47 per cent compared with 2016. The presentation noted that slight increases were seen in one-week, two-week and 14 or more days’ stays, which they believe was due to firefighters and police officers needing longer-stay accommodation during the fires.
Bowron Lake, Barkerville, Wells and Cottonwood House had similar declines in tourist numbers in comparison to 2016.
Quesnel Visitor Centre manager Julie-Anne Runge says Quesnel is actively working to counteract last year’s decline.
“I just came back from an outdoor sportsmen show in Kelowna, and that was to advertise to people who might be travelling through here – hunting, fishing, travelling, camping – that we are not burned to the ground, we are definitely open and ready for business, ready to welcome people up here,” she explains.
Runge took on her role as manager recently, but says the previous manager also attended tourism shows this year with a similar message, in a special initiative to mitigate the effect of the fires on the region’s tourism.
Quesnel’s Visitor Centre is also working closely with other information booths in the Cariboo, and Runge attended the Kelowna show alongside the manager of Williams Lake’s tourism centre.
“It was a joint project to promote the Cariboo; to bring people up and make sure people know about us,” she explains.
“The comments we got when we were there… people asking if we were badly burned out. No, we are still here! Even Williams Lake, they were evacuated but the city is OK. It was important to get that message out.”
In the event of a similar summer, Runge says she’s heartened that communities are putting together comprehensive emergency wildfire plans.
“Even if something were to happen, we would be able to deal with it, and react really quickly, so it wouldn’t happen the same way again. That’s very promising.”
In addition to promotion activities, the city is currently altering the parking lot in front of the Visitor Centre and Museum to make it easier for motorists to pull in.
The flower bed that used to sit in the centre of the lot has been relocated, and the lot is being reconfigured to allow RVs to pull through, as well as add parking spaces for smaller vehicles.
Runge says the city needed to dig up the lot to deal with drainage and curbing anyway, so they decided to change the parking configuration to make it more RV- and trailer-friendly. The lot previously did not have parking for these kinds of vehicles.
“It’s going to be a huge help,” says Runge.