The NCC’s Infocentre will move to the World Exchange Plaza in September.
It’s a familiar sight just across the street from Parliament Hill.
The NCC’s Infocentre has been serving visitors to the region from its high-profile Wellington Street location for more than 10 years. But in September, the centre will close as the tourism service moves to a new location at the World Exchange Plaza on Queen Street.
“It’s about bringing visitor information services into the 21st century,” explains NCC vice-president Guy Laflamme, adding the move is part of a new vision of how the NCC will interact with the public.
“Visitors are not looking for information in the same way they were in the 1990s and the 1980s,” he explains.
The new location, just a few blocks south, will be scaled down to a 100-sq-ft. kiosk, where visitors can receive the same over-the-counter services now offered at the Wellington Street location.
The decision to move came after the NCC decided the Infocentre’s current home at 90 Wellington St. was in need of a major facelift, Laflamme explains. He says the renovations were expected to cost nearly $5 million. “It’s money we don’t have,” he adds.
The NCC’s 15-year lease with Public Works for the building is expiring this summer and Laflamme says the organization decided it was time for a change.
He says while the Infocentre’s current home has a great location, the move is a chance for the organization to change its strategy.
“90 Wellington was important, but we should not resist adapting to a new environment because of an emotional attachment to a building.”
Part of this adaptation is a new digital strategy the NCC is adopting, Laflamme says. The federal agency is planning on launching a wireless Internet zone in both downtown Ottawa and Gatineau, allowing visitors to access the web on their mobile devices near popular tourist attractions. Laflamme says the Wi-Fi zone is expected to stretch from Parliament Hill to the new Convention Centre alongside the Rideau Canal, as well as the areas around the Museum of Civilization and Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau.
As part of its proposed Wi-Fi zone, the NCC will also be updating its website to be friendlier for mobile devices.
The Crown corporation will also be equipping its statues, public art and displays with quick-response or QR codes. Visitors will be able to scan these barcodes with their phones to learn more about the monuments.
“If you want to learn more about Rocket Richard, you could just scan his statue in Jacques Cartier Park,” he says.
Laflamme says the NCC will be moving the Infocentre at the end of this visitor season in mid-September. He says they expect to have the Wi-Fi zone up and running soon after the move.
While Laflamme declined to say how much the new Wi-Fi zone would cost, he says it fits within the NCC’s budget and will help generate savings. “Rather than investing in brick and mortar, we will invest in content and people.”
For Ottawa visitor Tyson Becker, these proposed improvements sound like exciting changes for tourists in the region. “I think it’s a great idea,” he says while visiting Parliament Hill. “I mean, who doesn’t have a smart phone these days?”
Public Works, which operates 90 Wellington St., says it is still deciding who will occupy the building which lies next to the former, and now empty, American Embassy.