Wednesday 10 November 2010

Tourism in Richmond County

Destination Richmond Tourism Coordinator Charlene Marshall attended "The Edge of the Wedge" at the Gros Morne Instutite for Sustainable Tourism in Newfoundland from October 29th to November 2nd. Marshall attended the training session along with fellow members of the Destination Cape Breton's Product and Development Committee, which included Mary Tulle CEO of Destination Cape Breton Association, Jennifer McIntyre from the Product Development Department of Nova Scotia Tourism, Jeff Stanley from the Municipality of the County of Richmond, Cathy MacKenzie from ECBC, Lester Marchand from the Fortress of Louisbourg, Nona MacDermit the Economic Development Officer for Victoria County, and Donna MacDonald representive from Inverness. The group attended workshops and took in tourism presentations on Experiential Tourism product development planning, which will help them better understand the process of making visitors an active part of the tourism experience and not merely passive observers. As a development body, they will now be able to apply incorporate these techniques into their development program in Cape Breton.

August tourism stats released by the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture & Heritage show growth in Provincial tourism numbers, with 1,481,300 visitors in the first eight months of the year, up two per cent compared to the same time last year. In August, the number of visitors increased by two per cent compared to the same time in 2009. Road travel to Nova Scotia increased two per cent in August and is up by four per cent in the first eight months of this year. Air travel increased by two per cent in the month but is down two per cent for the year. Cruise ship visitors are up. Halifax saw a 33 per cent increase to the end of August and Cape Breton saw a 15 per cent increase so far this year. Tourism statistics vary within each region of the province. Detailed results can be found on the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage website.

More accolades for Cape Breton. Louisbourg Seafoods received International acclaim as they captured a three star award for its crab product and a one star superior taste prize for it's shrimp at the Superior Taste Awards which took place in Brussels Belgium. 12 of Europe's leading chef and beverage experts made up the judging committee. The products were judged on their own merits in their respective categories on visual aspect, aroma, taste and texture. Judges give three stars for those products with a 90 per cent or more of total marks, two stars for those with 80-90 per cent marks and one star for those with 70-80 per cent. Louisbourg Seafoods were very pleased with their outcome as they were only one of five Canadian companies to win awards in 2010. This will definitely bring international attention to the Louisbourg company and hopefully bring a tourism spinoff to our side of the Island. Congratulations.

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