What should be done with the Wells Gray Infocenter? Last week’s decision by Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce to dip into its reserves to keep its information desk at the center operating through the summer is just the tip of the iceberg of an ongoing problem.
The people in the Infocenter are very much in the frontline. They are the face that Clearwater and area presents to much of the world. The first impressions they give are vitally important, not just for attracting and keeping tourists in the area, but also for providing information and contacts to people interested in starting a business, buying property or otherwise investing in the community.
The Infocenter belongs to B.C. Parks and, in fact, the corner property that it sits on is provincial park land.
For nearly 10 years a consortium of local businesses called Information Wells Gray has operated the facility. The consortium makes the money needed to pay for the lease plus operate the building by collecting booking fees from local hotels and other tourism operators, and by sub-letting portions of the building to small shops and the Chamber.
The arrangement appears to work fairly well but it is far from ideal.
It isn’t unusual to find people lined up 10 deep in front of the Chamber’s information desk. The building is too small for the amount of traffic it gets nowadays. It also is not laid out to handle efficiently large crowds, as happens when several tour buses stop at one time.
Information Wells Gray’s lease on the Infocenter expires in 2013. The Chamber has called for roundtable meetings with all the stakeholders involved – Information Wells Gray, B.C. Parks, Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Wells Gray, District of Clearwater, Wells Gray Country, and possibly others – to discuss and develop a long-term vision and plan for the facility after that lease expires.
We applaud that initiative and encourage everyone with suggestions and ideas to get involved in the process.
