They came, they saw, they spent.
Rambo mad tourism gave a boost to the local economy this past weekend. People from all over the province and beyond descended on Hope, filling local motels and devouring Rambo burgers at the Silver Chalice Pub.
Besides selling out two double feature showings of Rambo First Blood and Last Blood at the Hope Cinema, merchandise sales at the theatre and at the Hope visitor’s centre were brisk.
“We sold approximately $1700 in merchandise on Saturday alone, which is huge,” said Excutive Director of AdvantageHope, Shannon Jones. However, the social media numbers were even more impressive. According to AdvantageHope 147,270 individual Facebook users viewed the Rambo First Blood tourism page, with 18,212 users sharing or commenting on the page, and 1,350 users liking and following the page those followers coming from 47 countries. Perhaps most important for local business was the 3,776 users who RSVP’ed to the Rambo event pages.
“It’s been really great for business and for Hope, we’re already started planning for next year,” said Jones.
