It’s always interesting to analyze statistics for trends in a tourism town like Chemainus.
One of the more significant items to come out of this tourist season’s numbers released by the Chemainus & District Chamber of Commerce Visitor Centre is the daily breakdown of visits.
And what day of the week do you think has the most recorded tourist visits? Yes, it’s the dreaded Monday with an average of 19.5 per cent of daily visitors.
Monday is still the day Chemainus loves to hate for some reason. Many businesses have stood firm on Monday closures, even when the numbers dictate it is the time when more tourists are around than any other day of the week.
Tourists often express frustration about business closures on Mondays when they’re in town and that doesn’t help the overall perception of the community when those visitors return home. Their word of mouth surely detracts others from potentially visiting on Monday, knowing they’ll encounter closures.
As much as the town has progressed in catering to the continually evolving tourism market, it has also regressed by the refusal of some to budge on Mondays. It doesn’t make sense to turn away potential business.
Many tourists are only in town a short time and the restaurant/food-related type businesses especially need to take full advantage. There’s always time to scale back hours in the winter when it’s quieter.
The weekends actually have two of the days with the lowest tourist traffic. There is probably too much going on elsewhere that takes away from visits here.
Saturday, at 10.7 per cent, is the day with the fewest recorded numbers of visitors and Sunday only slips into the fourth best at 13 per cent.
The rest: Wednesday, 18.4 per cent; Thursday, 14 per cent; Tuesday, 12.3 per cent; and Friday, 12.1 per cent.
Getting on the same page means everything.
The murals remain a top draw and the Chemainus Theatre obviously packs in the people on a regular basis. It’s just a matter of utilizing all assets to ensure the Chemainus business community prospers.