By Dominic Abassi

Nanaimo’s Visitor Centre reporting busy 2016, as staffing cuts loom

Jan 24, 2017 | 2:49 PM

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.

However, not included in the plan that was approved is any mention of how the Visitors Centre will be staffed and operated. A staff recommendation to have the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association take over service-delivery was removed by council.

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All Tourism Nanaimo staff were given lay-off notices effective Jan. 31, 2017. Two of those staff members work at the Northfield Rd. Visitors Centre. Up to five summer staff are typically hired on to bolster the presence and run the Bastion Centre from May to September, as well as when cruise ships dock.

The city’s communications manager Philip Cooper states via email that one of the employees will have their contract extended through the end of March.

“For the period beyond that date, the City is currently engaged in finding a solution for continuous and smooth operations through the summer and fall months,” Cooper stated.

At a Nov. 28, 2016 council meeting when the issue was discussed, some councillors seemed unconcerned about the future of visitor services.

“I’ve got this,” said Coun. Bill Bestwick, holding up his smartphone. “I can ask whatever that lady’s (Siri) name is, she’s going to tell me where I am. I can Google it on wherever I’m going. I don’t understand why visitors information centres…are such a critical piece to what we have to provide. Put a couple of computers somewhere…I guess Google doesn’t work.”

Kathleen Harvey, manager of visitor services for Destination British Columbia, said visitor servicing is an integral part of making sure people have remarkable experiences while they are in B.C.

“There’s still a very strong need for communities to have face-to-face visitor services, but also realizing that rather than waiting for travellers to come in…the teams of enthusiastic information providers want to get out into the community and provide that information…it’s more of a multi-channel approach.”

Harvey references Destination BC’s Social Media Visitor Services program, which involves visitor information staff reaching out and responding in a timely manner to online conversations.

In 2016 the Nanaimo Visitor Centre team sent out a total of 1,130 tweets directly answering visitor questions or helping in trip planning and support, according to a report provided by Tourism Nanaimo. That ranks third in the province only behind Kelowna and Whistler.

The report shows the Nanaimo team ranked number one in total replies on Twitter, outperforming tourism powerhouses such as Whistler, Victoria, Tofino, and Kelowna in 2016.

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Historical numbers of visitors serviced by Visitor Centre Staff in Nanaimo:

2011: 11,285 (Note: Beban Park location)

2012: 12,093

2013: 19,512

2014: 24,620

2015: 24,457

dabassi@islandradio.bc.ca

Twitter: @domabassi