Yellowknife will have a new downtown visitor centre eventually

The City of Yellowknife has a new visitor services strategy designed to bring in more tourists, andplans to open a new visitor centre downtown.

• FROM 2017|City of Yellowknife to take over visitor services
• Northern Frontier Visitors Centre gets interim fix, could be used again

In a special council meeting on Aug. 13, city councillors unanimously approved the strategy, including opening a new visitor centre downtown. Renting space in a central location is thought to be quick and cost-effective, as well as accessible for visitors.

The current visitor centre is located in the basement of city hall.

'We're not ready'

The new visitor services strategywill buildon the city's existing tourism strategy, which was created in 2014.

Itmainly focuses on the new centreand includes an initiative to improvedata collection to analyze the types of experiences tourists are most interested in, create advertisements, and help tourists plan their trips.

• Paddlers embraced by elders after 35-day canoe trip from Yellowknife to Nunavut

"I think a big purpose will have to be co-ordinating and working with local businesses," said Coun. Rebecca Alty.

"Someone gave the example of the Christmas when tourists had nowhere to eat for Christmas dinner. The opportunity for the visitor centre [is] to really make sure that they're working with businesses to ensure that doesn't happen."

Coun. Adrian Bell said he felt that moving forward with the new visitor centre, and soon, is important.

"Time is of the essence," he said. "The aurora season is bearing down upon us, and we're not ready."

But council voted to allow the centre to operate from the basement indefinitely,untila new location is agreed upon and finalized.

Alty said, if necessary, the city can "do one more season in the basement."

A history of problems

Yellowknife's previous visitor centre, located near the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, shut down in May 2017 after it began sinking into a nearby swamp. It was briefly moved into the museum, before finding its current home in the city hall basement.

• Ontario couple travels 4,000 km for a perfect beach wedding... in Canada's Arctic

Though the Northwest Territories government recently spent an estimated $125,000 stabilizing the original visitor centre building, the city has no plans to re-occupy the space as a tourist destination.