Chamber of Commerce seeks ideas for downtown improvement

The theme of seeking new ideas to improve the downtown area and make it a more vibrant and inviting part of the city is now the focus of attention for the city's Chamber of Commerce, with the commercial support organization looking to the community for some feedback on how to tackle the issue.

The concept of more engagement with the public came following this weeks Chamber of Commerce luncheon, where Scott Farwell of Tourism Prince Rupert provided an update on the Prince Rupert tourism industry as it makes its plans for the 2017 season.

Tourism Prince Rupert has high hopes
for the 2017 Cruise season in Prince Rupert

From his notes, the Tourism Prince Rupert Chair observed that cruise ship visits will increase significantly in 2017, with Farwell noting that prospects look good for road and ferry travellers into the region as well.

As part of his tourism review he also offered up some observations that indicate that the local sport fishing industry remains strong on the North Coast.

Part of his presentation also included a call to action for Chamber members to become more involved in making the downtown core a more welcoming part of Prince Rupert experience.

During the course of the look ahead to the 2017 tourism season, Mr. Farwell called attention to the growing number of buildings in the downtown core that are currently in disrepair and provide a less than warm welcome for visitors to the community.

He called on the Chamber membership to address an issue that remains one of the larger negative images that the community should be concerned about.

We explore his theme further here, offering up a pictorial guide to the condition of some of the abandoned downtown buildings of downtown Prince Rupert.

Following the luncheon, Chamber President Keith Lambourne picked up on that call to action, seeking ideas through the Chamber of Commerce email address of info@princerupertchambe.ca

A further look at what Mr. Lambourne and the Chamber have proposed can be reviewed here.

More items of interest related to the tourism industry in Prince Rupert can be found here.

While notes on the city's commercial sector and Chamber of Commerce developments can be found as part of Commercial Sector archive page here.