By Dan Marshall

Strong start to 2016 for visitors to Nanaimo

Jun 3, 2016 | 12:41 PM

The CEO of Tourism Nanaimo says 2016 has been a good year for visitors to the city.

John Hankins says operators of RV Parks he’s talked to have said they had their best winter ever, and hotel occupancy rates are up as well.

“Chemistry Consulting just released some numbers comparing April 2015 to April 2016 and we’ve seen about an 18 percent increase in the occupancy rate,” said Hankins.  “So 55.59 was the rate in 2015 and it’s sitting around 73.6 for 2016.”

Top travel sites are taking note of the city as well. Hankins notes that Trip Advisor, Expedia, and Trivago are helping to spread the word about what Nanaimo has to offer.

“With the exchange rate being so low we’re already seeing alot of people chosing to come to the Island while perhaps previously they would have gone to the US.  And then we are expecting to see alot more US visitors coming up as well.  Destination BC breaks down where people are coming from and the majority of people are coming are actually from BC, people from Alberta are the top two.  Followed by people coming up from the states.”

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A recent report out of Victoria has speculated that the BC capital could hit record highs for tourism numbers in 2016.