Winnipeg tourist attractions draw big summer numbers

Summer for many Winnipeggers means spending weekends cottage-hopping in the Interlake, Whiteshell and northwestern Ontario areas. But within the city limits, unique attractions are pulling droves of tourists in from near and far.

Warm weather and sunny conditions have been a boon to the Winnipeg tourism industry this summer.

After a few dry seasons, Gordon Cartwright, the owner of Splash Dash Boat Tours, said business is the best it's been in years.

"I'm the only surviving boating company left on the Red River in Winnipeg, so I'm happy I have a decent season to recover from the last couple seasons," said Cartwright.

The company's six boats have been in operation since mid-May.

"Since then the tours have been great," said Cartwright. "People are coming out here; Americans are coming up because of the low dollar."

CMHR

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) has also seen asurge in visitors.

In May, June and July, the CMHRsaw106,000 visitors come through its doors,which is up 27 per cent over the previous three months.

In July, 66 per cent of visitors came from outside the province, up considerably from the two months prior.

• Winnipeg zoo's Journey to Churchill exhibit opens

Assiniboine Park Zoo

Assiniboine Park Zoo has also been in the green.

On Tuesday, lineups at the front-gates were long and winding, and vehicles with plates from neighbouring states and provinces were scattered through the zoo's parking lot.

Laura Curtis, the zoo's manager of marketing and communications, said numbers at the gate have been up since January due to new attractions. In the spring, those numbers rosewith the mercury.

"Of course, with the warmer weather and kids out of school and lots of people coming in to the city ...the zoo has been full on a daily basis," said Curtis.

Journey to Churchill opened in July and its polar bears have been big attractions. Ottawa coupleAndrew Tidball and Reama Khayat were in Winnipeg this week and made it a point to see the new exhibit.

"We decided to tack on a couple days because after the wedding, which was on Saturday, we were like, 'We haven't seen the tip of the iceberg,'" said Khayat. "We haven't seen even a bit of Winnipeg that we wanted to."

Tidball said he enjoyed the attraction so much he plans to encourage others in Ottawa to check it out.

"[I'm] going to recommend it to other people," said Tidball. "It's a great town; we've had an amazing time here."