SAANICH PENINSULA – The opinion has been expressed in this community that the provision of visitor services from Visitor Centres is redundant as people get all of their travel information on line. That view point is perplexing to our staff and board members, to the almost hundred volunteers who work in the Centres we operate and to the visitors, (67,000 of them last year) who come to our Centres in search of information.
It is regrettable that the people making these pronouncements do not have the benefit of first-hand knowledge from speaking with staff or volunteers to learn what it is that visitors are asking, how our volunteers respond and, most importantly, how this exchange of information positively impacts our community.
There will be 3.5 million people, arriving via BC Ferries to Swartz Bay this year, driving past the Pat Bay Visitor Centre. This number increases every year and a large percentage of these arrivals will be tourists, the majority of whom will have used the internet to research their travels.
Irrespective of the age of the visitors, when they are on holiday, the last thing they want to be doing is looking at their mobile device and many don’t have data plans. They prefer to speak to a local person who has an understanding of the area – our visitors want the inside scoop, so to speak. They are seeking to confirm that the information they researched is accurate.
How many of you have booked accommodation online and upon arrival discovered the photos and accompanying write up did not accurately represent the place? Our visitors are at the Visitor Centre to discover activities to do in addition to what they already have planned.
The visitors recognize that only someone who knows this area intimately can tell them what is special about our community and reveal to them the jewels that perhaps don’t have a presence online. People are suffering digital overload and understand that digital media can be manipulated and what is online is constitutionally no different than any other kind of advertising.
Siri will give you some astonishingly inaccurate answers and Google Maps often steer people wrong. Maps on a small screen are difficult to navigate and don’t provide a good idea of scale which explains why many tourists arrive at our Centre in the late morning with a plan to spend the afternoon in Tofino and make their evening ferry back to Vancouver. We give out tens of thousands of maps and brochures every year, by visitors’ request.
You would be surprised at the number of locals we assist at the Visitor Centres. They are most often requesting information about hiking or biking trails, picnic locations, swimming beaches, boat launches, and a whole raft of questions about locations they are interested to visit. A website is useful but none of this information could be shared as enthusiastically or compellingly as by our volunteers, in person.
All this is not to say that there are not opportunities to augment existing Visitor Services including mobile services, an online presence and apps. None of those options can replace or best the service provided by the loyal, passionate volunteers who have done so for more than thirty years from the key location, the Pat Bay Visitor Centre.
– Denny Warner is Executive Director of the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at 250-656-3616 or execdir@peninsulachamber.ca.
