Sunshine Coast Tourism (SCT) has appointed Wendy Wright as the manager for the Visitor Information Centre in Gibsons.
The Gibsons resident was most recently the administrative assistant at the Gibsons Public Market, and has more than 25 years experience in corporate management, HR and administration. She’s also been a volunteer at Coast Gravity Park and a volunteer trail host for the Dakota Ridge Winter Recreation Area.
SCT took over the $45,000 visitor services contract for Gibsons from the Chamber of Commerce at the beginning of April.
In a release announcing the changes, SCT board president Martin Prestage said, “Sunshine Coast Tourism will take off on the great work done by the Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce for the past 35 years. SCT has been marketing the region for 11 years now and this is a natural progression that will help to unify our message from Langdale to Lund.”
Paul Kamon, SCT executive director, said with more online presence the tourism marketing organization can “engage with visitors before, during and after travel to ensure they have a seamless experience from to start to finish. When people share their travel stories with friends and family, we garner the most authentic and effective form of marketing, which is word of mouth.”
SCT will operate the centre at its current location in Pioneer Park in Lower Gibsons for the remainder of this season, but has plans for a new expanded location with improved visitor parking and amenities.
Because of the likely need to move the centre, Gibsons councillors voted during their budget talks to drop $6,000 in repairs and upgrades to the building from this year’s capital projects list.
When he appeared before Gibsons council last December, Kamon said the tourism organization has also been talking with the Community Services Society about taking over the Sechelt Visitor Information Centre contract, which is set to expire in 2021.
