Seasonal Visitors Centre Demolished
Friday, September 14, 2012 @ 3:09 PM
The little blue and white building that greeted visitors to Prince George, is no more. photo-250 News
Prince George, B.C.- Yesterday, Mr. P.G. was dismantled and removed from the Visitors’ Centre site at Highways 16 and 97.
Today, the Visitors’ Centre was demolished.
The blue and white centre was the backdrop for Mr. P.G., but was sitting on leased land.
Last April, Tourism Prince George had appeared before Council to talk about its plan to relocate Mr. P.G. and direct all tourism traffic to the First Avenue Visitors Centre.
The argument against maintaining the 16/97 site was that the location was small, had limited accessibility, the structure was outdated and in need of a full rebuild, was not visually pleasing and had limited curb appeal and there were “continually decreasing visitation numbers”.
The presentation made to Council at that time indicated the 16/97 visitors centre was outdated, and gave visitors a poor image of Prince George.
With the demolition of the seasonal centre, hours of operation at the First Avenue Centre can be increased.
Comments
numbers down due to poor access from all directions..1st ave location also has visibility challenge… how you going to see it from hwy 97??
“and gave visitors a poor image of Prince George” .. not to mention the weed patches greeting people from all directions when you drive into town.
The First Avenue location isn’t exactly in a pretty area of Prince George either. Do people stop into visitor centres anymore in the internet age?
Most people could get all the info they needed on their smartphones on the way through town, if they wanted.
Put a sign directing them to the quickest way out of town. That’s the only info any ‘visitor’ could want.
^^^ Sad but true.
I have to agree with all of the above posts, the visitors centre was a disgrace. A whle back I checked out all of the visitors centres that were listed on the web in BC. There were a number of them that were beautiful with nice green grounds, areas for kids to play, picnic tables,and areas for large motorhomes to easily access the centers. 1st Aves not much better, no parking for motorhomes. PLus 1st ave is a discrace, weeds line 1st ave thewhole way xcept right in front of the vsitor centre. Welcome to Prince George.
sad day in PG history in my mind, should of upgraded this visitor center and closed the one on 1st, im sure Treasure Cove would of benefitted greatly from all the stop over traffic that would be present.
I agree with StellaBella – a sad day. It would have been nice to expand an area for tourists. Putting it across the street or downtown are not the best locations in my opinion. No proper accessibility. Mr PG was used as a landmark for locals and other travellers when given directions. I sure hope one or more of the departments of governments will put some better signs on the highways to help people find which way is up or down…
Heard Houston took down their Fly Rod as it was not the largest anymore. An American town has the largest now….Why can we not keep some of these monuments and make it CANADA’S largest?
Well – one less expense for the Core Review to look at ;). It still irks me that we were paying “A Lease” to Majors. To many breaks to companies in my Opinion…..
So now the visitors are going to pull their big rigs into downtown traffic; to find the 1st ave visitors centre!! I THINK NOT!!
An asshat idea if ever I heard one!
The natural location for a tourist centre, it seems to me, would be where travellers would see it. Not just off the train tracks; right near the ‘fun’ part of town. Now who’s idea was this–!!
Williams Lake has a new visitors centre which any town five times the size could envy!
First Avenue is a completely unfit site for a visitors centre! It’s awful, both the centre and the whole avenue with its delapidated shacks/warehouses surrounded by waist high weeds!
Whose idea was it? Colin Kinsley, maybe?
“Williams Lake has a new visitors centre which any town five times the size could envy!”
Very true!
But …. there is hardly anyone ever there. At least it is shared by the Chamber of Commerce. I think that we should be looking at that kind of cooperative venture.
I agree that visitor centres may no longer be required at least not in the traditional sense.
????there `s a visitors center on 1st???I drive down 1st almost every day and didn`t know that???
ddd
The vistors centre on first avenue is in the old CN Building that Initiatives Prince George bought for a **pretty penny** a number of years ago.
IPG has some pretty fancy offices upstairs in this building. Probably more square footage per person than anywhere else in BC.
The bottom of the building on the West End is the Vistor Centre. This is a pretty nice lay out.
Problem is; It is out of sight, and out of mind. Once the Boundry Road cut-off is completed (sometime next year) I suspect that even less traffic will go by this facility on their way West. All they will get is traffic from 16 East going to 97 North, and vice versa. Not much traffic either way.
Sooooooo. The City never tells us exactly what is going on in this town, until it is a done deal. My guess is that they have some plans for the property that the vistors centre used to sit on. Hence, tear down the building to make way for some new **hairbrained** idea.
I could be wrong, but I doubt it. At the very least they will expand the parking for the Casino into that area.
Seeing how it is Mr.Majors property and not the city’s……..
Soooooo….will it become a Northland dealership or a bigger Treasure Cove campsite.
Why would anyone want to stop in our city anyway with all of you all constantly bringing it down?
I think its an absolute shame they allowed that site to be sold in the first place. Clearly that is the busiest intersection in the north half of the province and was a prime location for a visitors center. I think the building had character and all it needed was some upgrades for a fraction of the cost of whatever funny idea they have next for tourism promotion in this city.
I think its corruption at its finest making way for the old boys that finance elections in this city… to hell with whats right for the city in the long term.
“The presentation made to Council at that time indicated the 16/97 visitors centre was outdated, and gave visitors a poor image of Prince George.”
So first avenue should give everyone that stops there a great first impression! Right across the street from the “National Hotel” just the place you want to stop and rent a bike to tour around town.
Isn’t that the street/ave the City is going to put parking meters on?
“Clearly that is the busiest intersection in the north half of the province and was a prime location for a visitors center.”
Agreed Eagleone, every RV on it’s way to Wallmart would see it.
“Why would anyone want to stop in our city anyway with all of you all constantly bringing it down?”
Of course, there is a direct correlation between the two. Everone knows that.
Then again, Americans would call it free speech. ;-)
Wanna change it? Change those things which people are complaining about. Kind of an interesting solution, isn’t it.
BTW, I think First Avenue is the most iconinc street for this community – views of the pulpmills, railway tracks, historic shacks, bike paths, sidewalks, junk yards …. it’s a microcosm of PG.
I could not think of a better place for a Tourist Info Centre. I would do anything to funnel as many tourists that way as possible. ;-)
I just drove down the Oregon and California coast 101. There’s nothing worse than a visitor information centre that isn’t on the highway. There’s a lot of them here like that and to top it off, they are closed Sat and Sun because they can’t get volunteers on weekends.
Why is our city making this dumb mistake? A city our size should have three or four of them. One on every entrance to the city and run by volunteers. We could build 4 new centres for the same price of that damn bridge at Cottonwood Park.
Major might own the property that the Visitor Centre site on, however we do not know the terms of the lease with the City.
Sooooo. Is the City moving on at its own accord, or are they moving because Major wants the property. What were (are) the terms of the lease.
Lets not forget that without the City in his corner all these years. Especially getting the property he is presently sitting on from the Province, and getting him his left turn lanes, etc; etc; etc; he could have been a lot worse off.
Sooooo. Same question, is the City moving to make things easier for Mr. Major, or are they being forced out. Thats what we need to know. ***The terms of the lease***
Pal: “Sooooo. Same question, is the City moving to make things easier for Mr. Major, or are they being forced out.”
At the end of the day, does it matter? I’m still trying to figure out why people would stop at any visitor centre, especially like the one here that doesn’t seem to offer anything special, when they could just as easily find what they want on the ‘net?
Who would want to visit Prince George with the highest gas prices in the province, next to Vancouver.
“I’m still trying to figure out why people would stop at any visitor centre, especially like the one here that doesn’t seem to offer anything special, when they could just as easily find what they want on the ‘net?”
LOL
the net, eh?
Not everyone has a smart phone
Not everyone has a computer
Not everyone has a computer access.
Not everything that has a brochure has a computer presence of any sort.
There is nothing on the computer that will tell you the latest condition of anything – a good example is the condition of the heritage river trail afterthe continual annual floods in recent years.
Some people actually like talking to people …. ;-)
The lease was short term. Which likely means from year to year. Doubt it was as much as 5 years.
It was short enough that to give the building a bit of an upgrade may not have seen a return.
Surprisingly, there was a 4% drop in visitation at the site in 2011 and an 11% increase at first avenue. No actual numbers were given, which makes me very suspicious since over the time the 97/16 centre was open, there could very well have been more visiting there than downtown.
http://www.princegeorge.ca/cityhall/mayorcouncil/councilagendasminutes/Agendas/2012/2012_04_16/documents/PPT_Tourism_PG.pdf
I took the time to look at some actual numbers for the two centres in PG as well as Williams Lake for a comparison since those travelling through WL are likely travelling through PG as well.
I have looked at the five âsummerâ months of May though to early September which is when students are brought in to increase the staff and the 97.16 facility opened.
The figures are for 2011.
The numbers from left to right are visitors, hours open, visitors/hour
Summer Months
WL18,8361,37813.67
PG TOTAL20,3692,6497.69
1st ave13,3381,7777.51
97/167,0318728.06
The last number in the table below is buses which visited.
Full year
WL24,9742,6059.5926
PG TOTAL23,0643,8595.9819
1st ave16,0332,9875.3714
97/167,0318728.065
There is no doubt that operating two sites is very inefficient.
But the real telling story is when one compares the 7 shoulder season and winter months.
The number of hours open is virtually identical while the number of visitors is more than double for WL.
WL6,1381,2275.00
PG 2,6951,2102.23
I think some better reporting to City Council and this community from Tourism PG would be in order before we spend any more money on trying to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.
Now lets compare the budget between the two. I’m guessing PG pays alot more in wages to a larger staff. Bang for your buck ?
Sorry Gus, I gotta pizza on the way. No time to look into that.
“LOL
the net, eh?
Not everyone has a smart phone
Not everyone has a computer
Not everyone has a computer access.
Not everything that has a brochure has a computer presence of any sort.
There is nothing on the computer that will tell you the latest condition of anything – a good example is the condition of the heritage river trail afterthe continual annual floods in recent years.
Some people actually like talking to people …. ;-)”
Classic gus. Putting down those who have a differing view.
I seem to recall you saying some time ago that you would stop responding to my posts… whatever happened with that?
Have any of you been in the visitor centre on 1st avenue?
They have great enthusiastic staff that do a very good job. It’s a classy set up inside, offering more than just brochures – local art work and carvings are for sale too.
They’ve got bikes people can borrow for free, as well as free fishing gear.
Early Monday mornings when the VIA train is leaving, the visitor’s centre staff are set up in the lobby with information. A lot of tourists from foreign countries go through that building, either to take the train, or traveling by vehicle/RVs.
Location could be better – can’t argue with that. It’s easiest access for vehicles coming in from Hwy. 16 east. Their parking lot can accommodate about 4 full length RVs, as well as angle parking for cars/pickups.
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