View of Richmond

With New Years approaching, we look forward to the new year and all it has to offer. Lets look back at the past year and be thankful. With 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. Comments we received from visitors as to why they came to Cape Breton continue to give us hope that the tourism industry will continue to grow in the area. Despite a change in the reasons why visitors are stopping at our VICs, their comments continue to express satisfaction at having staff available to assist them with their travel needs. In previous years, the center saw many tourists looking for help with obtaining reservations. This year we saw visitors who had already booked their reservations, but needed assistance in making changes to them. Changes whether due to the fact the area was larger than they had expected, causing difficulty with reservations fitting into their time frame or there were festivals and attractions that they had not been aware of and wanted to attend, which resulted in their need for assistance in changing their reservations. Our service, enabled them to change their itenirary, cancel previous reservations and obtain accommodations in the areas they wanted to spend more time in, which helped greatly with releaving the stress of the situation and enabled them to remain in our area longer. Visitors appreciated the fact the VICs around the Island were able to assist them on events which added to their travel experience, that they would have other wise missed out on. We were very pleased to have received positive feedback from visitors on the quality of service offered by the Visitor Information Centres around Cape Breton. Of course it is only through the remarkable job that the local communities groups in combination with Municipal Departments and our local Tourism Associations do in offering everything from community breakfasts, concerts, suppers, to Scotish country dance lessons and Ceilidhs, which enabled visitors to receive a taste of the charm, culture and entertainment which enhanced their experience.