The Quesnel Visitor Centre (QVC) released its 2019 year-end report during the North Cariboo Joint Planning Committee meeting March 10 in Quesnel. The report presented data collected between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019, and provided year-over-year comparisons to the last five years using previously-collected data.
The report states that the QVC saw 12,209 visitors walk through its door in 2019, a significant increase from 2017 (up 40 per cent) and 2018 (up 21 per cent) —years in which visitation suffered due to forest fires throughout the region — but a decrease in visitation from recent non-forest fire years 2014 (down seven per cent, 2015 (down 10 per cent) and 2016 (down four per cent).
According to the report, visitation to Quesnel in 2019 was up from 2018’s numbers in both visitors from within and outside of the country.
The highest number of visitors to the Quesnel community are coming from within B.C. A recorded 2,728 individuals in 2019 were visitors from within the province, a 25-per-cent increase from 2018 and an overall increase from each of the previous five years listed in the report.
Visitors from Alberta represented the most dramatic increase in visitor origin from 2018, with an increase of 106 per cent in 2019; however, when compared to the non-forest fire years in the report (2014-2016), the increase was still lower, by an average of minus-32 per cent.
The majority of visitors from outside of Canada in 2019 were found to be coming from Europe; however, the largest incline when compared to the previous year were visitors hailing from the U.S. and Mexico, which saw an 88-per-cent increase.
The report also shows the number of “Same Day” visitors, individuals who visited Quesnel but did not stay overnight, rose by 15 per cent in 2019 when compared to the previous year. When compared to all five years recorded in the report, Same Day visits were up by an average of plus-31 per cent.
The report tracked the amount of nights visitors spent in Quesnel and found that aside from the steady rise in Same Day visitors, overnight and multi-day visits were down, with a few exceptions.
“With the exception of Same Day visitors, we saw declines in all areas of duration of stay when comparing previous years’ stats to 2019, with the only exceptions being in one-week stays in 2014, one-day stays in 2017 and 14-plus-day stays in 2016 and 2017,” according to the report.
The report states visitor requests for information increased in almost all tracked categories in 2019 when compared to the previous two years, with the exceptions being Accommodation and Adventure Recreation. Accommodation requests saw a 20-per-cent drop when compared to 2018 and a 32-per-cent drop from 2017, while Adventure Tourism requests saw a slight three-per-cent decrease in 2019 when compared to 2018.
Visitor information request categories which saw the largest increase in 2019 from 2018 were Transportation, which saw a 198-per-cent rise in requests, and First Nations, which increased by 85 per cent.
The categories which saw the most total overall requests in 2019 were Maps/Directions with 3,369 total requests a 25-per-cent increase from 2018, Attractions with 1,622 requests a 12-per-cent increase from 2018 and Site Facilities with 1,532 requests a four-per-cent increase from 2018.
According to the report, requests for information regarding the casino and museum have shown a positive increase in each of the last five years, with the museum receiving the greatest increase in requests.
With regards to information requests for places of interest in the surrounding community, the report found that Bowron Lake saw an increase of 47 per cent in requests, while Barkerville saw an increase of 18 per cent in 2019.
While the number of requests regarding Bowron Lake and Barkerville were up in 2019, they were down when compared to recent non-forest fire years.
“Compared to previous, non-forest fire years, 2019’s numbers were not as high as we would like to see,” according to the report. “We saw declines averaging minus-34 per cent for Bowron Lake when comparing 2019 to 2014, 2015 and 2016. We also saw an average decline of minus-14 per cent when comparing 2019 Barkerville numbers to 2015 and 2016.”
With regards to requests about recreational information, the report shows positive growth across almost all categories. The categories which saw the biggest incline in 2019 from 2018 were camping information with a 72-per-cent increase and Pinnacles, which saw a 52-per-cent rise in requests
The only recreational category to show an average decline in information requests between 2014 and 2019 was the Riverfront Trail, which showed an average decline of 33 per cent.
READ MORE: Visitor Centre working hard to promote Quesnel after tourist numbers suffered last year
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