Dear Editor,
I work in retail and regularly interact with tourists. I can honestly say that the number of tourists asking me questions has remarkably increased this season. Simple questions like where can I buy antiques? Where can I go to a square dance? Where can I pick sea glass? Where can I buy fish, etc., etc.? Questions that must have been answered by the Visitor Centre employees before.
And it is not as easy to quickly access that information for them online as you would think, even when I know what I’m looking for.
I also find myself providing information that you would think they might know (the history of the island and its people, the different regions, what they might find interesting to explore, happenings and places in the area they wouldn’t know to ask about – that is, the general “layout of the land”).
I’m certainly happy to help them, but the good work the Visitor Centre did is very apparent and it is sad to see tourists having to depend on random retail employees who may or may not have the time or enthusiasm to help them out.
Roberta MacEwan
Judique Intervale