The Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce has sold over $150,000 worth of gift certificates since the program was launched in November 2015.
According to chamber manager Randi Amendt, between 2016 and 2017 the sales of gift certificates increased by approximately 15 per cent – with $46,000 worth of certificates sold in 2016 and $53,584 in 2017.
“Each year we are seeing our numbers go up as we continue to sell more and more certificates,” said Amendt. “The community is becoming more comfortable with the gift certificate program and we look forward to seeing the program grow stronger.”
Although only $6480 worth of certificates have been sold so far this year, Amendt says the majority of gift certificates are sold around Christmas time.
READ MORE: Keeping local dollars in Burns Lake
The successful program allows consumers to purchase gift certificates from the chamber and redeem them at participating local retailers and service businesses. The chamber launched this program with the intention of keeping shopping dollars in the Lakes District.
“Keeping our dollars local help to strengthen our local economy,” said Amendt.
“We have great support from throughout the community,” she continued. “The certificates are being purchased for many different reasons, and because they are accepted at 20 plus different locations in our community they offer great diversity for the people using them.”
Gift certificates can be purchased in denominations of $10, $25, $50 or $100. The chamber will also entertain special orders of different amounts. For more information about the progam, or to check the list of participating businesses, visit the chamber’s website at burnslakechamber.com.
Number of visitors down this year
The number of visitors passing through Burns Lake this spring is down by approximately 30 per cent compared to the previous couple of years, according to Randi Amendt, Manager of the Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Centre.
A total of 416 parties passed through Burns Lake in April, May and June of 2018.
Amendt believes this is due to the fact that the last couple of years were unseasonably warm.
“We attribute the decrease this year to the cold weather we experienced for the vast majority of our spring this year,” said Amendt.
The majority of tourists passing through Burns Lake this spring were B.C. residents, followed by Europeans.
Province relaunches Buy BC
The provincial government has recently relaunched its Buy BC Partnership Program to fuel public interest in shopping for made-in-B.C. products.
The program will provide $2 million in funding per year, over the next three years, to help eligible applicants with their marketing efforts using the Buy BC logo on their products or promotional materials.
“The goal is to connect more British Columbians and visitors with the great food and drinks made right here in B.C.,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture. “When people are making their shopping decisions, we want them to reach for B.C. products.”
According to the provincial government, bringing back the brand power of this marketing program – popular with B.C. growers and producers, but cancelled in the early 2000s – will make it easier for British Columbians to explore new and different products from around the province.
“Much has changed since the program was cancelled more than a decade ago. There are new types of B.C. producers and products that we think British Columbians and visitors will fall in love with,” added Popham.
The program’s funding is available not only to agriculture and seafood producers, processors and co-operatives, but also to relevant industry associations, as well as agricultural fairs and markets within B.C.
For more information about the program, visit https://buybc.gov.bc.ca/
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