Visitor Counts Up At New Centre

Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Friday, 27 June 2014 06:01
Vernon's new visitor information centre by the Civic Arena will get a big test this weekend with thousands of tourists here for Funtastic. Manager Teresa Durning-Harker says so far, visitor counts at the new site on 39th Avenue are up 3 percent over last year when the service was provided at the two centres north and south of town. "That isn't huge, but even holding levels with where we were last year, all things considered, I think it's a positive start for us," she tells Kiss FM. Durning-Harker says concerns about southbound vehicles not being able to turn left off the highway at 39th to get to the centre, have not been an issue so far. "Most of them are not using the highway into the city if they need the visitor centre. They using the 27th Street exit (off the highway at north of city) and coming in that way and then turning onto 39th," she says. Durning-Harker says they expect to see a lot of people this weekend with the 30th Funtastic Festival taking place. "We have done our call outs to the campgrounds and accommodations. There is still some availability and the traffic coming in is huge. We'll be open until 6 every night (7 days a week), and we're hoping to see the same numbers as last year, or better."