Capital InfoCentre to close
Posted Oct 31, 2011 02:28:17 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For over 20 years tourists, have flocked to the Capital InfoCentre for information on local attractions, tours, and hotels.
But when tourists walk up to the doors of the facility at 90 Wellington Street Tuesday, they’ll find them locked tight.
Ottawa’s only tourist centre is closing its doors permanently.
The lease was up and the centre was overdue for extensive renovations, that would have been to the tune of millions of dollars.
“We realized that the refurbishing would have required in the order of $5-million in capital investment, which was beyond our available funds,” said Guy Laflamme with the National Capital Commission.
Laflamme told 1310News they had to bite the bullet and close the doors, but that doesn’t mean they won’t continue serving tourists.
“We will maintain, with a smaller footprint, the traditional way of providing these kinds of services by having a kiosk inside the World Exchange Plaza,” he said.
They’ll also post information officers carrying tablets at high traffic locations, like on Parliament Hill and around the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau.
“We want, not only to respond to fundamental questions such as ‘where are the closest washrooms?’ ‘where are the closest restaurants?’ But we also want to use our staff to tell the story of the capital,” he said.
The Capital InfoCentre served over 300,000 visitors every year, and Laflamme maintains they’ll still be able to help the same number of people find their way.
