It’s been a wildly successful 2018 for Tourism Kamloops.

It doubled their growth target, from the goal of 3 per cent from 2017 levels to 6 per cent.

CEO Beverley DeSantis says tourism has a $450-million dollar economic impact in the region.

“We’re really happy with that, and that is in no small part to our stakeholders,” she said. “That includes the city, the ‘Tournament Capital’ brand, our accommodation sector, our wine and golf, our fish.”

“I mean, we have a lot of people pushing on that same wall, and it seems to be working and we’re very encouraged for 2019.”

DeSantis notes about 1.8 million visitors come to Kamloops each year, bringing with them $270-million in direct visitor spending.

Their year to date (January to October) accommodation revenues are up 6.2 per cent, while visits are up 4.2 per cent.

DeSantis admits the fires this summer had them a little worried, but the numbers are encouraging.

“I mean everything is looking so good, and it feels like we’re heading in the right direction,” she added. “Our marketing efforts [and] our targets are where they need to be.”

“We’re going to continue to grow with what we’ve been doing to increase that, and extend that into October, November, and December, and then again into the summer months as well.”

Tourism Kamloops is hoping to grow revenue by another 3.5 per cent in 2019.