(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - Tourism Kamloops is reporting a record-breaking June for tourism in the city.

Tourism was up 26 per cent last month compared to June of 2016, according to Municipal and Regional District Tax reporting data.

Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverly DeSantis says it's hard to say what was the biggest catalyst for the major bump.

"Destination B.C. and Destination Canada have worked really hard with the regions and cities like Kamloops to highlight Canada 150," she says. "That put us on the international stage as far as a destination."

The new 'Boldly Unscripted' brand campaign this year could be playing a role in the increase. DeSantis says they aren't willing to say that is the biggest factor, but it would be nice to think their hard work and ingenuity has paid off.

"The timing is supporting that, though one month does not make it a trend," she says. "We had slowly done the soft launch of testing the marketplace and our social media channels for six to eight months really gearing up for the summer season and June is definitely indicative of the results of that work, I'm hoping."

DeSantis says a big focus for Tourism Kamloops has been moving away from traditional forms of advertising and instead having more of a social media focus driven by user generated content.

"The more people that come here, the more people continue the campaigns we have through social media contests and initiatives, and the word gets out virally," she says. "That's where we are going with our marketing. Visitors telling visitors to come here."

B.C. saw a 5.3 per cent increase in June and year to date the province is up 4.1 per cent.

Because of cancellations caused by the wildfire season along with the added bookings that have come over the past couple months, DeSantis can't say whether the trend will continue in July and August. Those numbers will be released at a later date.

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