Kait Labbate, Centretown News
The Canadian War Museum has been chosen one of the top 10 attractions in Canada by TripAdvisor 2015 Traveller’s Choice Awards.The Canadian War Museum has been recognized by the influential, U.S.-based travel website TripAdvisor as one of the best museums in the country, marking the second consecutive year the museum has received a Travellers’ Choice award for its stellar ratings on the online review portal.
TripAdvisor operates in 45 countries, reaching about 340 million unique monthly visitors and more than 225 million reviews for almost five million accommodations, restaurants and attractions, according to its website.
This year, the LeBreton Flats tourist attraction is ranked third among the top 10 museums in Canada. The Royal BC Museum in Victoria and the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta., were the only two Canadian museums that finished ahead.
“It’s a magical place,” says Stephen Quick, newly appointed director general of the Ottawa military history centre. “It’s a place where stories come to life and people bring their emotions and their visceral memories.”
Quick, who had been director of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum since 2010, was named head of the war museum on Sept. 15.
The museum, which opened at its new location in Centretown in 2005, welcomes about 500,000 visitors every year.
Quick says it’s a combination of great galleries, intricate architecture and a friendly staff that gives visitors an experience to remember.
Zain Rizvi, an Ottawa native currently studying medicine in Islamabad, is one of almost 2,000 visitors who have reviewed the Canadian War Museum on TripAdvisor. He says he remembers the first time he visited the museum with his Grade 8 history class close to Remembrance Day.
“It was so alive and there were many veterans present to share their stories using the exhibits around them,” he said in the review. “The museum is a national treasure.”
More than 95 per cent of TripAdvisor reviewers of the Canadian War Museum say it is “excellent” or “very good,” according to the website.
“Wonderfully designed,” “beautifully thought through” and “simply fantastic” are just some of the phrases visitors use to describe their experience.
Julie Cassetina, a senior public relations specialist at TripAdvisor, says the Travellers’ Choice awards were determined based on the quality and quantity of reviews over a 12-month period.
“We know that TripAdvisor travellers love these museums for all that they have to offer, from the educational component to the sense of entertainment,” she said.
The website recognizes the best destinations each year for a wide variety of attractions, including beaches, hotels and islands. Winners are highlighted from 52 countries and eight regions, according to Cassetina.
Earlier this year, TripAdvisor welcomed the Canadian War Museum into its Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame, which recognizes places that have won a TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence five years in a row. The site also lists the War Museum as first among 190 “Top things to do in Ottawa.”
“Once you’re in the building, you’re in a place where you’re going to have an experience that you wouldn’t normally have,” says Quick, noting that visitors from all over the world frequently share their own stories about life amid conflict.
The museum is currently gearing up for the Oct. 23 opening of a new exhibit called “World War Women.”