According to Hope Visitor Centre and Museum Complex manager Helen Kennedy, they reached out to over 58,000 tourists last year, marking an increase in numbers comparing 2016 to 2015.
Kennedy said 47,530 visitors came into the visitor centre last year which represents a 19 per cent increase in foot traffic.
“That makes us one of the busiest visitor centres in the province and certainly the busiest of our neighbours with the exception of the Merritt, B.C., visitor centre,” said Kennedy.
They also reached out to an additional 10,923 visitors at events or through roaming visitor information services at the Hunter Creek Rest Area, Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park and Memorial Park.
The visitor centre received funding from Destination BC to hire one employee, who worked at Memorial Park in the morning to capture the bus traffic, at the provincial park in the early afternoon to help people and manage parking, and the rest area in the evening to encourage people to stay in Hope.
“While other visitor centres have seen a decrease in numbers, our numbers have been steadily increasing over the last three years,” said Kennedy. “I think part of that is, in some other parts of the country, or other parts of the province, people know what they're getting into when they get to a community — but Hope — we're growing and there's new, exciting things happening.
“We get a lot of people from the Lower Mainland who say they've been driving through Hope for years and they've finally decided they should stop and check it out.
“So I think definitely the visitor centre numbers are up because people are interested in what's going on in Hope and there's a change in Hope that people are recognizing.”
Kennedy highlights that tourists come to Hope for different attractions depending on the season.
From May to October, tourists like to visit the Othello Tunnels, hiking trails or come to Hope to rest for about an hour. In the winter, Kennedy noted that clear roads, mild weather in Hope and snowfall at Manning Park will lead to an increase in visitor traffic.
The top countries where visitors came from continues to be China, Germany and the Netherlands.
Kennedy pointed out that during the colder months of the year, visitor numbers fall. In the fourth quarter, the proportion of European visitors decreased, although visitors from China continue at a high level, just not as high as in July and August. A bigger proportion of travellers come from British Columbia and Washington state.
Kennedy attributes the reason for the higher visitor numbers to their marketing efforts in the Lower Mainland and also a weak loonie and lower gas prices.
On the first point, Kennedy said they market Hope through their marketing inserts and advertisements on Vancouver transit.
“We get people coming in referencing the marketing inserts that we put in Black Press papers over the summer as the reason they're here,” said Kennedy.
They have also received free media coverage in northwest Washington where a few magazines have written on Hope.
“We definitely get folks from the Seattle area coming up because they saw us in a magazine.”
The weak loonie has the effect of keeping British Columbians in Canada and bringing Americans north of the border, said Kennedy. Lower gas prices also encouraged touring.
This year, Kennedy plans to continue some programs that market Hope's hotels, restaurants and stores such as the Hope Visitor Guide. They have also applied to Destination BC for funding for roaming visitor services, and funding for summer students to reach more visitors.