PICTOU - Making a day trip around the local area just got a little more interesting.
Cindy MacKinnon of Destination Eastern and Northumberland Shores said the local tourist association just released its 2018 Visitor and Activity Guide that provides a wealth of knowledge to not only tourists but local residents about the two shores.
“It is for visitors. It is for tourists and for residents too,” she said. “We often get residents calling to pick up a few guides because they have family coming in.”
MacKinnon said the guide is membership driven, but it has a wide range of listings ranging top things to do, festival events as well as heritage and cultural interests.
The Northumberland Shore Guide features three geographically areas from Amherst to Tatamagouche, Pictou County and Antigonish town and county so events and listings for specific areas are easy to locate.
Pictou County has a listing of licensed accommodations, restaurants, etc. We get these and print off 40,000. They are in all of the visitor information centres in the province and they are on the ferries. They are on ferries, airport and we give to all advertisers and members.
“We encourage hotel and accommodation operators to put them in their rooms so that when visitors are relaxing in the evening, they can see what they want to do the next day.”
She said despite this being a digital age, the guides are still a good source of information.
“People still pick things up and have a coffee while they are reading that magazine. If you are in Pictou and you decide you want to go to a certain place, you can put the civic addresses listed in the guide in your GPS and away you go. It will take you right to the door.”
She said there are also some places that don’t have access to the internet so having the guide handy with phone numbers and addresses is also a good idea.
“We encourage people to the Northumberland Shore or Eastern Shore as a base and then take your day trips from it,” MacKinnon said. “From Pictou County alone, you are an hour and half into the most major cities. Come here, stay here, see things here and do your day trips.”
She said the visitor centre in Pictou saw about 7,000 people last year and almost everyone that comes through the doors gets the guides.
The guide also features local photography, including the cover photo Brian Cameron Photography, as well as local recipes from the Pictou Lodge as well as the Kilted Chef Alain Bosse and Mark Gabrieau of Gabrieau’s Bistro in Antigonish.
MacKinnon said DEANS updates it’s guides each year by contacting its members to see if new information needs to be added and if all the information is up-to-date and correct.
“We don’t just take information from websites. We do a pretty through check on phone numbers and dates. We put a lot work into making sure that publication is correct and accurate and it goes out early on in the spring so we hit the visitors.”
She said DEANS recently surveyed its membership and asked about the service it provides including the importance for the guides.
“That guide comes every time. They continue to support it and we continue to have strong advertisement. It is good tool for us and a great resource for local residents and visitors.”
