Kaikōura’s visitor centre has greeted its 100,000th visitor, since coming out of hibernation nearly a year ago.
Visitor centre manager Vicki Harris said the milestone created plenty of anticipation among staff last Wednesday, October 7.
‘‘Yesterday at the end of the day, I realised the Kaikōura Visitor Centre was about to reach a pretty incredible milestone,’’ she said last Wednesday.
‘‘Naturally, we wanted to do something special to acknowledge the moment, so we spent the day keeping a very close eye on the numbers. Then, around lunchtime, it happened.
‘‘As visitor number 100,000 walked through our doors, we surprised her with party blowers, a big cheer and a little gift from the Visitor Centre to mark the occasion.’’
Vicki said 16-year-old Luana, of Brazil, was understandably a little surprised and confused at first.
‘‘Once she realised what was happening, she was absolutely delighted and very grateful for her wee gift, which we chose with Kaikōura in mind.’’
After posing for a photo, Luana went off to enjoy an EcoZip tour.
The former Kaikōura i-Site building on West End was placed in hibernation in July 2022 by Kaikōura Information and Tourism Inc (KITI), as visitor numbers dropped due to Covid-19 restrictions.
KITI, better known as Destination Kaikōura, opened the new state-of-the-art visitor centre during Labour Weekend last year.
Vicki said foot traffic is slowly picking up at the visitor centre as the weather begins to warm up after winter and as the community bounces back from the July 7 flood.
After marking the 100,000 visitor milestone, it was back to work for the Kaikōura Visitor Centre team.
‘‘For us, this is just the beginning,’’ Vicki says.
‘‘It’s the first of many milestones we hope to celebrate as the visitor centre continues to grow, welcome visitors and play its part in connecting people with everything Kaikōura has to offer.’’