The Golden Municipal Campground wants to expand its services.

The Golden Municipal Campground presented a report to Town Council on Tuesday, October 20, summarizing the successes and challenges over the 2009 camping season. The report highlights the increased success of the campground and offers several possibilities for upgrading services available to campers.

“People want to stay longer, but there are only 9 sites available with 30 amps of power and water,” said Joy Guyot, operator of the campground.

Last year, Joy Guyot and Michelle Nagy-Deak, the new campground operators, entered into a public-private partnership with the town to take over the administration of the campground for a period of five years. Guyot and Nagy-Deak are tasked with improving the operation of the campground to attract tourists to stay in Golden longer and contribute to the economy. This report marks the assessment of the first year of their operations.

The successes indicated in the report include the opening of the White Water Amenity Hub, a 20 per cent increase in occupied sites as well as community integration, such as a BBQ Cook Off in support of the Golden Food Bank. Guyot and Nagy-Deak also highlight the doubling of US tourists and the increase in family usage of the campground.

Over the previous year, Guyot and Nagy-Deak said they were able to implement a number of service upgrades to the campground including, two new sites, the adding of a convenience and RV Parts store, laundry facilities, wireless internet and surveillance cameras.

Guyot and Nagy-Deak presented the Town with a series of options to expand the services available to increase the level of tourism. They identified upgrades to power and water services for RVs, new bathrooms to replace the old ones, and better co-ordination with the public pool to accommodate tourist swimming.

Guyot said that the upgrades to the site would not be something that would happen right away, but should happen sometime in the future.

“We are asking for a lot of upgrades which cost a lot of money. We understand this is over the long term. It’s a big commitment. As operators, we are pointing to things that should be addressed first.”

Currently, there are only nine sites available that can service offer full service to RVs with power and water. In their report, Guyot and Nagy-Deak state that increasing RV services will increase the number of visitors to Golden because RVs usually bring four to six people, where as most tent sites carry just two to three people.

“By increasing RV services it will encourage people to stay here longer, shop in the stores, and contribute to the economy.”

Guyot said she believes that with the success of the previous year, the campground has proven that whatever the Town spends on upgrades it’s going to get back in tourism revenue.