Strong 2010 Start to Visitor Centre Traffic Reported

Tourism Thunder Bay's Terry Fox Visitor Center has reported some positive results in visitation in the first two months of 2010 and it follows a 2009 that saw a 4% growth in visitation despite being the worse travel year in recent memory for the Canadian industry in general.

These winter months are typically slower for visitation and so the numbers shown are traditionally lower than the summer, where daily traffic to the centre can reach to 400 to 600 persons.

Registrations were 468 in January and 676 in February, a 9% increase over the same period in 2009. In January, 392 (84%) were Canadian, 49 (10%) were U.S. and 27 (6%) were from overseas. During February, 582 (86%) were Canadian, 82 (12%) were U.S. and 12(2%) were overseas. Our winter Canadian Visitors were largely from Ontario and Manitoba while U.S. visitors were overwhelmingly from Minnesota.

The door counters at the Center measured 907 and 1149 for January and February respectively. This represents a 7% and 13% increase respectively. The counters represent people entering the visitor center information areas but who don't choose to fill in their travel information and motivations.