The BC Visitor’s Centre, located just off the highway in Golden, has just added a new outdoor plaza to make sure their customers have the most enjoyable experience possible.
“It’s nice to have something there other than a parking lot for people,” said Jennifer Handley with Destination BC (the Crown Corporation that funds the Visitor’s Centre, and five others in the province). “It’s all about enhancing the visitor experience.”
The new plaza provides picnic tables in a nice environment, complete with flowers and trees, for tired travellers to stop in and have lunch, or just get out of their cars for a few minutes.
“People who have been on the road a long time now have a place to relax,” said Handley.
“Here they can catch their breath, and might be encouraged to stay and explore the area. It’s all about first impressions.”
Funding for the plaza was provided through Destination BC (which is funded through the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training), with the Town of Golden acting as a flow-through for the funds.
So far the investment has been $65,000, and Destination BC is hoping that phase two of the project will begin next year.
Construction, which was contracted to Olson Construction, started in the early summer, and the plaza has been open to guests for a few weeks now. Golden’s visitor’s centre, along with the other five in the province, served more than 465,000 visitors in 2012.
