The general manager of the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops says the number of people visiting the park this summer has been better than expected.

Glen Grant says the park’s numbers are 10 per cent over what was expected in their budget.

“We’re pretty happy to see a lot of Europeans, a lot of visitors from China. Our bus tour traffic is still very, very strong. We increased it quite a bit last year, we’re maintaining those bus levels, and a few more are coming. But we’re just really happy we’re maintaining all of the growth we made last year,” Grant says.

He says a damp start to summer didn’t scare anyone away.

“It hasn’t deterred (guests) from visiting the city either, which is great,” Grant says, who is also a board member for the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association. “If you go down to Music in the Park you see it, it’s completely packed down there. The hotel rooms are still being filled up, there’s lot of things to do in our community and the tourists are definitely coming.”

Grant says at this rate, he expects the wildlife park’s guest count will be close to its record set last year of about 105,000.