The City of White Rock has OK’d a Highway 99 billboard for another year, citing positive response from tourists.
Last week, city council unanimously approved splitting the approximately $40,000 cost for the promotional signage – located just north of the Douglas (Peace Arch) border crossing – with the White Rock Business Improvement Association.
The 10-foot-by-40-foot sign was erected as a pilot project last April, bearing photography donated by White Rock resident Tim Shields.
It was hoped to encourage more northbound travellers to check out what the city has to offer.
According to director of financial services Sandra Kurylo, it has led to 39,305 visitors on the city website – an increase of 51 per cent – in the last nine months.
Of that number, 66 per cent were new visitors to the site.
“(New visitors) indicated that they found out about the site through the billboard,” Kurylo told council.
Kurylo also noted that approximately 1.7 million visitors pass the sign when heading northbound on the highway.
Cost to the city will be $20,070, to come from reserves.