Holiday Greetings

I am sending out best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to all our followers and hope that you had a very merry Christmas.
The year ahead will be filled with anticipation for a prosperous and busy tourism season and hopes of seeing the industry continue to grow. This past tourism season was filled with lots of great memories. In June I was fortunate to be asked to travel to New York with the Clipper representatives to promote our beautiful island. During the summer I met some of the nicest people from all over the world as they stopped in at our Visitor Information Center. Gary and I were happy to have had the opportunity to represent Richmond County along with Charlene Marshall of Destination Richmond Tourism Association at the The Saltscapes Travel Expo in Halifax, where we were part of the Destination Cape Breton Association promotion. We also took part in the annual Cape Breton Tourism Fam Tour where we visited with operators and members of the tourism industry which we had not visited in previous years. Seeing what were new and exciting features to which we could direct our visitors. During the Tour we were able to experience first hand the brand new tourism experience in Louisbourg, The Beggars Banquet at The Point of View Suites in Louisbourg. This new tourism attraction drew rave reviews and created a brand new experience for visitors traveling to Louisbourg. The Beggars Banquet, which took place every evening in the community of Louisbourg, offered visitors a chance to step back in time, dress in period costume, enjoy live entertainment and experience an 18th Century dining. The Beggars Banquet was the perfect addition to round out the day, after a visit to the historic Fortress of Louisbourg.
During this past year visitors were introduced to some new facades to our area streets. St. Peter's put a very impressive face forward to visitors as it underwent a facelift to its stores and accommodation adding new beauty to this already friendly and welcoming historic village. Richmond pulled out all the plugs in providing visitors to the area with excellent local entertainment, suppers, community festivals and concerts and Ceilidhs which all added to the visitors experience and expectations. This passed summer visitors could expect to find activities such as top class golfing, surfing, horse back riding and kayaking and boat excursions and fine dining all available for their enjoyment.Making Richmond a perfect spot to chose as a facation destination.
The community of Louisbourg also underwent a image makeover as the Paint the Town Red project was undertaken. New signage, 18th Century Flower Buckets throughout the town, freshly painted chairs located outside storefronts and residents homes added to the charm of the town and brand new introduction to the Fortress by costumed representatives at their Visitor Center was provided to visitors traveling to the community.
Yes it was indeed a year of making the visitors experience come first and foremost on the minds of all those in the industry.