Local restaurants benefiting from tourism spike
Posted December 20, 2015 1:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Tourism has seen a significant hike so far this year, and our local restaurant industry is seeing the benefits of that.
With 308,052 more people coming here so far in comparison with the same period last year, Ian Tostenson with the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association says his industry is noticing the difference.
“Our sales to the end of the summer, total system sales in British Columbia are about 8 percent, which is just about where tourism is,” says Tostenson. “You’ve got the effect of tourism and the effect of a relatively strong BC economy.”
The data points to an increase from clients from Japan and South Korea, specifically, with Tostenson suggesting the province’s aggressive advertising campaign in those areas is paying off.
“Ever since the [2010 Winter] Olympics, what we’ve noticed — you can measure so many things with restaurants, the economy, people, trends, health — we’re seeing that diversity from the demands on our restaurants from people from those various countries,” says Tostenson.
The increase marks a 7.6 percent jump from January to October of last year, according to Stats Canada.
