Nanaimo’s Visitor Centre reporting busy 2016, as staffing cuts loom
NANAIMO — While the future of the service remains up in the air, staff at Nanaimo’s Visitor Centre are reporting a big spike in the number of people coming through the door.
Data provided by Tourism Nanaimo shows a little more than 32,000 people used the service in 2016. That includes visitors to the year-round Northfield Rd. location and the seasonal Bastion site. The number represents a 34 per cent increase over 2015.
On top of that, the Centre’s Street Team interacted with about 6,000 people at various events in 2016, a whopping 352 per cent spike from the previous year, the data shows.
What’s unclear is how the service will be provided moving forward. During an October 2016 in-camera meeting, council voted to remove tourism from the mandate of the soon-to-be defunct Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation. One month later, council approved a staff recommended transition plan, calling for Tourism Vancouver Island to take over the bulk of services.