Pictou visitor information centre closing Saturday

The visitor information centre at the Pictou rotary is closing its doors for the season this weekend.

The centre will officially close Saturday on a season that saw a decrease in visitors in part because of a reduction in ferry service and construction of a new roundabout in front of the centre.

But Destination Eastern and Northumberland Shore manager Cindy MacKinnon says despite a lower number of people at the centre, it was still clear that VICs provide a service to the travelling public.

“People still want information from visitor information centres,” she said. “Overall it was a good summer with lots of information being shared with people.”

The province decided in 2014 that it would no longer be operating a VIC at the rotary. It still owns the building so DEANS negotiated a lease with province to open the centre under its direction.

MacKinnon said overall the tourism season seemed to be a good one. There were many people from Ontario and Quebec in to the centre as well as from the United States.

“There was a good mix of people,” she said. “They are curious and want to know what is going on locally. The festival events were well attended as well.”

The VIC at the Pictou rotary was manned by three full-time staff and a part-time employee, but without the help of volunteers, it would have cut back on its hours.

MacKinnon said DEANS has a licensing agreement with the province to use the building until the end of October and then it will speak with them again about reopening for the next season.

“Our hope is that we do have some sort of visitor services in the same location in 2017,” she said.

“Overall it was a good summer with lots of information being shared with people.” Destination Eastern and Northumberland Shore manager Cindy MacKinnon