The BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops says bus tours make up a large part of the park’s growth.

General manager Glen Grant says this year more than 200 tour busses will stop in the park.

“We started off, three, four years ago, with only having four, five, six coaches stopping, and sometimes it was just for a rest stop. They weren’t asking for a tour or anything of that nature.”

Grant says those busses generate not only revenue but an expanded interest in the park as well.

“As people stop at the park and they see it for the first time and they take in some of the experiences that they have, once they get back to wherever they originated from, whether that’s China, Australia, southern California, Germany. They’re coming from all over the place.”

The non-profit park has set a record this fiscal year with more than 104,000 visitors, as Grant said with the conclusion of Wildlights earlier this week. Its fiscal year ends on Jan. 31.