The Chemainus Visitor Centre still reported brisk business in 2019 despite some extenuating circumstances.
A total of 42,664 visitors were served at the centre, with 883 total tour bus arrivals. The centre had a total of 1,863 operational hours, with 1,080 volunteer hours worked.
The leading nation for most visitors to the community was the Netherlands followed by Australia, Germany and the United States.
“While our numbers are down from 2018, that is to be expected due to many factors,” noted Chemainus Visitor Centre manager Emily Weeks. “The political climate in China accounted for a large drop in Chinese tour bookings, which historically, has been a large portion of our tour bus population.”
“We also experienced a large boost in tourism in 2018 due to the BC Summer Games being hosted in Cowichan, as well as the annual National Gathering of Elders,” added Chemainus & District Chamber of Commerce executive director Lori Frankson. “We’re all looking forward to what 2020 will bring, and we definitely have some exciting new projects and events in the works - so stay tuned.”
The past year concluded with 1,068 visitors serviced in December and 24 tour buses during operating hours.
“During our 186 hours of operation in December, we recorded that tour bus travelers accounted for 53 per cent of our total visitors while roaming travelers accounted for 47 per cent,” Weeks noted.
Overall, Sundays at 11 a.m. were the peak time for visitor traffic throughout the month.
“We work hard to develop relationships with the tour bus drivers and make an effort to thoroughly chat with each individual that stops into our Centre,” Frankson indicated. “Our statistics are tallied using specific documents created by Destination BC and are digitally uploaded into the Destination BC Visitor Services Statistics Program every month.”