Anne attractions may be harder sell to Islanders on staycation during pandemic

Prince Edward Islanders are being encouraged to staycation this summer to support the tourism industry as it's unlikely visitors from off-Island will be allowed but will they want to visit attractions based on Anne of Green Gables?

The owners of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne-themed attractions in the Cavendish area are hoping so.

"I'm sure everybody's on pins and needles right now, they're looking for hope," saidLinda Lowther, deputy mayor of the Resort Municipality of Stanley Bridge, Hope River, Bayview, Cavendish and North Rustico.

"I would say the percentage is huge, I'm sure it's over 90 per cent," of people visiting Anne attractions who are tourists rather than locals, Lowther said, adding the biggest effect will be felt by Anne attractions that charge an entrance fee to derive an income.

Lowther is part of the group that created a new literary tour celebrating Montgomery in Cavendish, a project that includes a park and a statue of the author, built last year with $600,000 from the federal and provincial governments.

The tour encourages people to visit sites in Cavendish and across P.E.I. that Montgomery wrote about or where she spent time, like the local post office where she sent off her manuscripts, the Bideford Parsonage Museum where she boarded andthe MacPhail Homestead in Orwell.

There's a lot of Islanders that really don't know a lot about L.M. Montgomery, and it would be nice for them to be better educated. David Macneill

"Many of them, there's no fee to enter, so what I'm hoping is Islanders looking for something to do will take the time and visit those places," she said.

"Maybe Islanders who don't know a whole lot about our famous author can now become great ambassadors by visiting all of the inspiring places on the tour.... There's so many things that people don't know about her."

Lowther said a couple of measures would help boost this summer's season: if P.E.I. were to open its borders to visitors from New Brunswick, and if the P.E.I. National Park including Green Gables was open to visitors.

'Still some interest within the Island'

The family that operates the site of L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish home saidthey've been preparing the site as they would any other year. It's where Montgomery was raised with her grandparents after her mother died, not far from the famous Green Gables House.

Her grandparents' house is long gone but the property and many large trees have been preserved to reflect the landscape as Montgomery herself would have experienced it.

"Whether we have visitors or not, that's another story," said David Macneill. "Hopefully we'll get some sort of visitation."

Macneill said there is still damage from post-tropical storm Dorian to clean up that will take all summer. Two groups have pledged to donate a total of $13,000 for tree replanting at the homestead.

The site is on thenew literary tour. Macneill said in the past, only about 10 per cent of his visitors have been from P.E.I.

"I'm not sure with the state of everything if they will actually spend the money or the gas or whatnot to travel around," he said.

"There's a lot of Islanders that really don't know a lot about L.M. Montgomery, and it would be nice for them to be better educated."

Macneill also operates a kiteboarding and paddleboarding business in the area.

"There is still some interest within the Island, it's 15 to 20 per cent," for those businesses he said, adding he feels they could operate safely.

He also believes partnering up with New Brunswick would bring some more visitors and would help the bottom line, although he does not have high hopes for the season.

"It's very hard, and it's going to be a long winter," he said.

More from CBC P.E.I.