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Peterborough & the Kawarthas Visitor Centre Relocation

By Kelly Jessup
two women walking on a sidewalk on a sunny day

Peterborough Economic Development (PED) is excited to announce they will be relocating both locations – PED’s corporate office located at 210 Wolfe Street, as well as the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism (PKT) Visitor Centre located at 1400 Crawford Drive. This move will unify the team, and cost-effectively consolidate operations under one roof at 270 George Street North.

The Peterborough & the Kawarthas Visitor Centre currently located at 1400 Crawford Drive will be closing its doors to walk-in traffic on April 28th at 4:30pm in order to prepare for the move and to set up in the new location at 270 George Street North in Downtown Peterborough. The new location will open on Tuesday May 15th at 9am.

Similar to other destinations like Kingston, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Toronto the move into the region’s City Centre will put the new Visitor Centre in a centralized hub, which will not only support growth in the downtown, but will also add vibrancy by attracting more visitors to the downtown core. This new centralized location will provide more opportunity for visitors to the centre to explore the area than they have been able to at the location on the outskirts of the City.

Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism provides service to visitors from all over the Ontario, and the world. Having visitor services headquarters located in downtown Peterborough along the Historic Trent-Severn Waterway will allow for the opportunity to provide services to visitors travelling by foot, bicycle, boat, public transit and motor vehicle. The physical location is changing, however they will continue to provide the same great service to visitors in person, by phone, via social media and email. PKT is working collaboratively with the City to provide wayfinding signage to the new Visitor Centre location from various entrances into the City, including those entering from highway 115.

PKT remains highly committed to continuing to support its partners throughout the City & County of Peterborough.  An important part of providing good customer service to visitors to the region includes ensuring that local tourism businesses are knowledgeable about the destination and its offerings. There are many touch points where a visitor could obtain information. PKT encourages their 400+ tourism partners to be ambassadors for the region and anticipate this move will only strengthen relationships with those businesses as they continue to monitor and adapt to changing visitor services.

PKT will also continue to collaborate with partners like the Buckhorn District Tourist Association, Kawartha Chamber of Commerce & Tourism, and others to ensure that they have the information they need to service visitors throughout the region.

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing travel industry, there is a need for destinations to deliver timely and helpful information to visitors. In 2017, Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism will pilot mobile visitor services which will allow helpful Travel Counsellors to provide pop-up services at a few key locations throughout the County during the summer months. This will be complementary to the services being offered at the Visitor Centre.

PKT will continue to provide the same excellent service to visitors to the region that they are known for, and the visitor experience will continue to be a top priority.