SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
More people walked through the doors of the visitors' centre in September than any other month on record, according to numbers collected by the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre.

More tourists have walked through the doors of the city's visitor centre this September than any other month, according to figures from the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre. - NNSL file photo

Executive director Tracy Therrien said the previously monthly record for the number of walk-in visitors was 4,503 in February.

"We have already beaten February's number,"said Therrien before the month's end.

"As of the (Sept. 19 to 20) weekend we were over 5,000. We did 4,500 in February, but that was with Chinese New Year and with having 1,000 Chinese people that month.

"We will set another all-time record. Five thousand people through our door is a lot of people."

Kris Johnson, regional superintendent with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment said her department has been an ongoing and close partner to the visitors' centre and the numbers reflect the amount of work that organizations have done to promote the NWT. She said the department remains in full support of anything that will keep the visitors centre from building on tourism.

"The aurora is very popular in August and September and (the numbers have been) a very good indication of the work that NWT Tourism and our operators and the visitors' centre and ITI have been doing in terms of promoting the NWT as a place to come visit,"Johnson said. "When visitor numbers go up then you can see that work has been really paying off. We have been interested in the helping and supporting the visitors centre for years and we are a partner in that."

The visitors' centre has been struggling with a shifting foundation and problems arising because of it for the last several years.

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