The holidays are over for another year and now we can look forward to the new year ahead and all it has to offer. There will be lots of work as we set forward to market Cape Breton Island as a destination of choice to visit in 2011. Every year competition gets toughter as we aim to draw from the world market, but we are very fortunate to have a product such as Cape Breton Island with all its assets that keeps us competitive.
We should also take a look back at the past year and be thankful. In Richmond our tourism season was excellent. Against the grim outlook that hovered over the minds of tourism operators as the season began, we managed to come out of the season having seen visitors in numbers that were not expected. Operators that I spoke to, who had been expecting a decline in their numbers, actually saw an increase, which I am happy to say reflects business around the entire Island. The comments we received from visitors as to why they came to Cape Breton continue to give hope that the local tourism industry will continue to grow. Numbers at the Visitor Information Center were as expected, and althought we saw a change in why the visitors were stopping in at the center, they were still overjoyed to have our service center available to meet their needs. In previous years, the center saw many tourists looking for help with obtaining reservations during their stay on the island and as they travelled onto the mainland of Nova Scotia; this year we saw more visitors who although they booked ahead some using the online service and some using travel agents they used the services of the Visitor Center to change reservations. Some because they wanted to stay and take in activities longer in a certain area others because they had not realized just how big an area they would be covering in their travel and the reservations they had were just not fitting in their time frame. We were only to happy to assist them with their changes and also to advise the visitors as to what festivals and activities they could take in while in the area that they had not been aware of on line. We had only the best comments as to the quality of service offered by the visitor Centres around Cape Breton Island and the mainland of our beautiful Province and what a value they were to the traveler. We were very proud to be able to offer this service and look forward to being able to assist them in the year ahead.
The communities around Richmond did a remarkable job of offering everything from community breakfasts to lobster suppers, from variety concerts to Scotish country dance lessons as well as weekly Ceilidhs and surf lessons, which gave the visitors to our area a real taste of the local charm and culture and entertainment of which we have to offer. And it is only with the help of local volunteers, community leaders and Municipal Departments and our very hard working Tourism Associations that we as a county are able to offer the visitor this sought after experience.
The Celtic Colours International Music Festival had another successful year and saw strong attendance by visitors and locals alike at all festival events and concerts. Again this year Richmond was proud to host 3 of the concerts for Celtic Colours, and at the Visitor's Center we were happy to hear only rave reviews of the performances offered by our very popular entertainers giving all indications that these visitors will be returning for next years events as well.
On the local scene: There will be a Merchandise Bingo held at the Riverdale Community Center in Lower River on January 9th, starting at 2pm.
If you enjoy outdoors activities, Ski Ben Eoin will be offering its scheduled winter ski programs starting on January 9th, this is always a lot of fun for the entire family.
Until next week, with the winter weather setting in making traveling a little more difficult, please remember if you care to drive, drive with care.
The Richmond County Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation are kicking of June is Recreation Month on June 1, 2008, with Active Kids, Safe Kids.
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