Organizers in Smithers can finally relax after an eventful, and successful, week.
The town hosted national and international skiing events and the Bantam Tier 3 BC hockey finals. With the athletes came their coaches, families, friends, and tonnes of tourist dollars.
While no dollar value is available, Tourism Smithers Coordinator Gladys Atrill says the general feeling in town was very positive.
“There were more people in town which created excitement and of course, particularly in the hotel sector, there were folks staying in the hotels. That’s some extra traffic with the hotels full last week,” she says.
Hudson Bay Mountain Operations Manager Frank McBride says hosting is helping to put Smithers on the map.
“People can see that we’re not just a little ski hill in the middle of nowhere. We’ve got the stuff. We can basically showcase it to the world and make it a good show too. With all our terrain and everything we’re doing up here, we’ve grown and we’re becoming a bigger, better mountain and I think it shows in our product,” he says.
Up next for local tourism, Smithers is hosting a BC Northern Selects Youth Hockey tournament this weekend.