Revelstoke’s 2023-2024 winter saw a lagging start with low snowpacks, and a deep freeze event that hindered access in and around town. But that didn’t paint doom and gloom as locals worked to support businesses and organizations around town while tourism numbers grew.
Revelstoke Mountaineer chatted with Revelstoke Railway Museum, Revelstoke Museum & Archives, Revelstoke Library and Tourism Revelstoke about season numbers, visitor trends and winter highlights.
Revelstoke Railway Museum
Revelstoke Railway Museum (RRM) saw a rocky start to the winter season, with November visits bringing the seasonal average daily visitor count down to just over 27. But December to April’s monthly average jumped to 31 visitors. In total, 7,161 visitors checked out RRM’s collection, Throwback Thursday and RRM’s Thursday game night.
“I would say overall we fared well this year,” Rachael Lewis, RRM’s manager of visitor experience and retail told the Mountaineer. “I think in large part thanks to local people and seasonal workers coming to visit because there was so much downtime.”
Local support for Thursday’s game night provided an extra five hours of evening work time for RRM staff.
“I personally am happy with our success this winter,” Lewis said. “It kept me busy with the lack of good snowboarding out there.”
Revelstoke Museum & Archives
Revelstoke Museum & Archives (RMA) also championed local residents for their visitor numbers.
“We hosted Brown Bag and our new series Film Friday and had good visitation, mostly of locals,” Laura VanZant, RMA’s assistant curator said.
RMA also noted a below seasonal average in November with 911 visitors that month, but December to April averaged over 1,141 visitors a month. That includes paid admission, research requests, educational programs, Brown Bag Lunches and other services provided by the museum.
“From November 2023 to April 2024, our visitation is exactly the same as November 2022 to April 2023, and May is on track to being very similar to May 2023,” VanZant said.
Okanagan Regional Library Revelstoke branch
Winter started off anything but slow for Revelstoke’s library. While November might have had weaker numbers for other destinations around town, the library was a key resource for newcomers to Revelstoke.
The library provided new residents and seasonal visitors with internet access during library hours, printing services, programs for resume and cover letter writing and help navigating government resources.
The delay in ski season and good powder days meant Revelstoke Library’s range of social clubs were busy with folks looking for activities in town.
Once snow finally hit Revelstoke, library staff helped visitors access national park passes and information for exploring Roger’s Pass. The winter months saw Revelstoke Library remain a hub for resources and place for folks to connect, with families and after-school programs taking advantage of reading programs and literacy resources.
“The library space was very busy. Many people were simply hanging out, others were working or studying,” librarian Lucie Bergeron said, noting that they again became a place for job resources, moving research and tax information once shoulder season started back up.
Tourism Revelstoke
Tourism Revelstoke recorded a lower year for tourism during the 2024 winter compared to 2023, with January and February the lowest months of the season.
“The overall decrease is likely most due to challenging weather,” Meghan Tabor, Tourism Revelstoke’s marketing and destination director explained, specifically noting the low snowpack. Still, tourism numbers were above winter 2019’s numbers, even after the effects the pandemic had on the tourism industry.
Tourism Revelstoke’s direct booking campaigns was a strategy that offered access to Revelstoke’s winter activities with stays of two or more nights at hotels and inns in town. Whether that included a free nordic skiing day pass and rentals or 25 per cent off ticket prices for winter activities in town, it was a way to connect visitors to Revelstoke’s winter community.
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