By Grant Warkentin
Campbell River’s tourism reputation is growing internationally, with more visitors finding their way here than ever before.
Earlier this month city council got a look at the annual report for last year about Municipal and Regional District Tax revenues, a three per cent tax collected at short-term accommodations and invested back into local tourism promotion.
The report shows annual revenues have grown from less than $500,000 in pre-pandemic 2019 to nearly $668,000 last year, the best results yet, and a 7.7% increase over 2024.
One interesting detail is how much revenue is coming from online bookings – the city expected $45,000 from them last year, but the actual figure was more than double, at nearly $120,000.
The money is collected provincially and returned to the municipality to spend on tourism projects. The Visitor Information Centre is funded through the tax, and the city contributes an additional $250,000 annually to tourism for a total of more than $1 million spent annually to promote Campbell River.
A report to council from Director of Economic Development and Indigenous Relations Rose Klukas says the increase reflects “a year-over-year increase and continued recovery and growth within the local visitor economy.”
Her report says Campbell River is “focused on destination marketing, experience enhancement, visitor services, industry collaboration, and alignment with provincial tourism priorities” and that choices how to spend the tax revenue were guided by Destination Campbell River’s five-year plan to 2027, and the city’s 2025 Strategic Action Plan.
Last year local tourism efforts focused on promoting Campbell River as a domestic tourism destination, featuring festivals and local events to attract visitors from nearby communities.
However, the city still promotes itself abroad – the USA remains the single largest target for advertising dollars, with a focus on Washington, Oregon, California, and Texas. The UK is second, with BC’s domestic market geting about the same amount of attention. Other target markets were Ontario, Alberta, Germany, and Netherlands.
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