There were 87,000 people who came through Kamloops on the Rocky Mountaineer, in 2019 according to the company.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, director of rail operations Dwayne Dergousoff says that figure is similar to 2018.

“Every year seems to have its own challenges. The wildfires the last couple years were challenging, but it was a great year for 2019. Wildfires were minimal, and also we had great performance from our CN and CP partners, just getting our trains across the road, because they were up in rail traffic as well,”  Dergousoff says.

“We’re hoping for similar kind of numbers and maybe even some growth for next year. We bring a pile of people to Kamloops in a short period of time and we’re so grateful that the community and the partners – from the hotels to the restaurants – can accommodate them. We’re bringing 600, 700, 800 people to Kamloops six nights a week in the evening, that’s a lot of people.”

The train has an estimated economic impact for the Tournament Capital of nearly $50 million annually.

The company says it employs 60 full-time people in Kamloops and up to 80 seasonal staff, from April to September.