The Rocky Mountaineer in Kamloops (Photo via Shane Woodford)
The president and CEO of Rocky Mountaineer says its been an extremely strong season for the luxury train operator.
Dave McKenna says that is despite the odd curve ball thrown their way, pointing to the short lived ban on travel to communities like Kamloops, and smaller fires along the train routes between B.C. and Alberta.
“It has impacted us a little bit but nothing really of any magnitude,” McKenna said. “So we are far in excess of where we were last year and we’re tagging along right back to that 2019, 2018 heyday peak prior to COVID. We’re extremely pleased.”
According to the luxury train operator, there were about 87,000 people who came through Kamloops in 2019, with a similar number in 2018.
“From 2018 to 2022, Rocky Mountaineer welcomed 266,000 guests to Kamloops,” spokesperson, Carolyn Rohaly, told Radio NL, in an email. “This year, we’re expecting over 80,000.”
While nearly 5,000 passengers were impacted by wildfires and B.C.’s short-lived ban on tourism-related travel to Kamloops and five other Interior communities last month, McKenna says its shaping up to be a strong end to the season, which wraps up in mid-October.
“You know September is one of the busiest months for us,” he said. “Lots of guests travelling, particularly from Australia, the UK, and the United States this month and so we’re just really pleased that the great residents of Kamloops, they always have their arms open for our guests.”
“I would categorize it as we are as close to sold out as can possibly be through to the end of September. It’s going to be a really really strong finish to the year, so for everybody in Kamloops and Banff and Jasper and Vancouver, they’re going to expect to see some full trains rolling in and some extremely happy guests”
The City of Kamloops is the mid-point overnight stop on two Rocky Mountaineer rail routes – First Passage to the West from Vancouver to Banff and Journey Through the Clouds from Vancouver to Jasper.
It leads to an estimated economic spin-off of nearly $50 million in Kamloops in a normal year.
