A decrease in visitors at the Williams Lake Tourism Discovery Centre carried well into the end of September according to the executive director of the Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce.
Claudia Blair says their numbers are down in the thousands.
“It’s really a sad thing because we were having such a good spring and the beginning of the summer looked really good and all the events that were planned, the visitor numbers were up so over the fire season it really decreased.”
“We rely on that funding in our gift shop and anything else that we can do to offset the costs to run the visitor center so it’s going to impact us quite a bit and I’m not sure where it’s all going to end but we’re hoping for better days.”
Blair says they are working on some plans for late winter and into the spring, adding that she is really excited to see some of the future events being planned like Hockey Hometown.