Kamloops Travellers Are Coming Back, and the Data Proves It
Dylan Sherrard
In the travel industry, everyone talks about reach. How many people saw the ad, clicked the link, and booked the room. Reach matters. But the more interesting question for 2025 is this: who came back?
Tourism Kamloops' 2025 Insights & Review Report shows a 203.7% increase in returning users to tourismkamloops.com. Over 30,700 people visited the website, left, and then came back to browse again, checking event listings, exploring trail pages, and planning trips with more intention the second (or third) time around.
New users grew by 14.1% to 681,199. That's healthy top-of-funnel growth. But the return visitor number tells a different story: one about people who are actively considering Kamloops as a destination, not just scrolling past it.
The broader picture
Total website sessions reached 982,692 (up 25.3%), with over 1.65 million page views (up 25.7%). Average session duration climbed to 2 minutes and 23 seconds, up 10.8%, suggesting visitors are spending more time researching and less time bouncing. Experience-led pages like Kamloops Events and Hike Without Limits remain among the highest-traffic content on the site.
On social media, the pattern held. Despite posting 5.7% fewer times across channels, Tourism Kamloops grew engagements per post by 9.9% and net followers by 13.5%, reaching a total audience of 70,793. Quality over volume is working.
Dylan Sherrard
What this means for accommodation
The return-visitor trend lines up with what operators saw on the ground. Occupancy hit 65.8% for the year, a 3.2% increase over 2024. August reached 86.1%, up from 77.5% the year before. RevPAR climbed 6.2% to $106.86 while ADR held steady at $156.06.
Kamloops continues to sit well below the provincial ADR average, which peaked above $320 during summer months. That gap is a competitive advantage. For travellers comparing options across BC, Kamloops offers a high-quality experience at a price point that doesn't force compromises.
Domestically, the top feeder markets were Surrey (33,900 visitors), Calgary and Vancouver (26,500 each), and Kelowna (23,900), reinforcing Kamloops' strength as a drive-market destination from both the Lower Mainland and Alberta.
What operators can do with this
The 203.7% returning-user increase signals that people are in a consideration phase. They've seen what's here and they're coming back for more detail. That creates a window for operators to capture demand that already exists.
If you run seasonal packages, make sure they're visible while people are in planning mode. Partner with Tourism Kamloops to get your offers into event and activity listings. And if you have loyalty or return-visit incentives, now is the time to promote them, because the data suggests people are already inclined to come back.
Interested in supporting the trail infrastructure that continues to drive visitor interest? Learn more about the Freeride Fund and how your business can contribute to sustainable trail stewardship. For the full data picture, visit Tourism Kamloops' Research & Data page.
