Tourism centres, website had lots of traffic this summer

According to statistics presented by the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR), tourism information centres (TIC) across the region, along with the UCPR's tourism website, received quite a bit more traffic this summer.

A report presented by Sylvain Charlebois, economic development and tourism coordinator for the counties, indicated traffic was up at most of the counties' four TICs this summer.

In Hawkesbury, 2,918 people visited the TIC, compared with 2,351 in 2009. In Casselman, 1,834 visited the TIC, compared with only 710 in 2009. The Vankleek Hill TIC reported a modest drop in visitors, down to 230 this year from 481 in 2009.

The newest TIC, which was opened in Limoges to celebrate the grand opening of Calypso in June, saw 4,199 visitors this summer.

"These numbers represent people who presented themselves at the counter," Charlebois explained. "They don't include the total number of visitors who stopped in. We can see from these numbers that there was an increase in requests for tourism information in Prescott-Russell this year."

He said one of the reasons the TIC in Vankleek Hill experienced a drop in visits is because it opened its doors in June this year, instead of May.

"One month makes a difference," Charlebois remarked.

Statistics assembled by Google Analytics show that the counties tourism website, particularly the welcome page, also saw a jump in visits.

The numbers indicate that from January 1 to August 15, the welcome page on the counties' tourism website received 7,133 views, compared with 5,324 views last year. The events page was visited 3,853 times during the same period, compared to 1,418 times in 2009.

"We can attribute these increases to the fact that the counties purchased more publicity banners on different websites and we regularly sent out an updated event list," Charlebois said. "That list was e-mailed regularly to tourism partners and contained a link to our event listing on our website. It's also safe to say the grant opening of Calypso also played a big part in the jump in page views this year."