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Grand opening held for new visitor centre

The City of Estevan has seen an increase in the number of visitors for its Visitor Information Centre this year. The centre is in the Estevan Leisure Centre, where the concession stand was once located.
Visitor Centre Opening
Participating in the ribbon cutting for the new visitor information centre were, from left, Tourism Estevan employee Michaella Matthies, Mayor Roy Ludwig, Tourism Estevan employee Lorin Fichter and destination marketing/communications consultant Rebecca Westling.

The City of Estevan has seen an increase in the number of visitors for its Visitor Information Centre this year.

The centre is in the Estevan Leisure Centre, where the concession stand was once located. A grand opening ceremony was held on Thursday, with refreshments for the public and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The information centre opened following renovations in early June, and according to Rebecca Westling, the city's destination marketing/communications consultant, there has been a slight increase in visitors compared to the previous site, which was a log cabin next to the Souris Valley Museum.

There were 148 visitors at the new information centre last month, compared with 140 in June 2017. But Westling stressed there has been a big difference in the type of visitors.

Last year the bulk of the visitors were from the southern U.S., and were headed for Alaska. They stopped at the information centre to use the washroom or find highway maps.

"The visitors who come now are local residents," said Westling. "There are tonnes more residents. I would say 75 per cent are residents who come in to use the visitor centre, and they're coming to find out information about energy tours, information about what to do here, where to go and events coming up."

The centre has clothing, brochures, maps, souvenirs and more. It also serves as the meeting point for the Energy Tours that are offered through a partnership with the city, the Westmoreland Coal Company and SaskPower. Tours are offered in the morning and afternoon from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

Westling expected the centre would be busy this past weekend when Estevan hosted the Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association provincials. She also expects to see significant activity for the provincial speed swimming competition at the end of the month.

“We’re really excited to share the new space and share what Estevan has to offer,” said Westling.

The city announced plans during budget deliberations in the winter to move the information centre to the leisure centre due to dwindling visitor numbers. Westling reported the centre had 1,197 visitors in 2017, compared with 2,097 the year before.

The majority of visitors last year were to take an Energy Tour or to use the washroom.

“We just wanted to change that goal for the visitor centre, and we wanted to really use the resources for the visitor centre for residents here, to share what Estevan has to offer,” said Westling.

Other visitor centres have been shutting down in recent years, but Westling said the city wanted to have a location to promote local tourism attractions to residents.

Renovations started in April and the centre opened early last month.

The city is also using more digital content to promote its activities, with the Experience Estevan blog that will be written by summer students Michaella Matthies and Lorin Fichter, who will be documenting their experiences in the community.

A decision on what to do with the former information centre building has not been made.