Ten lucky winners of the 2003 "Tour the Island" program are about to receive a warm memento of their vacation on Prince Edward Island. The initiative is designed to encourage both visitors and Islanders to travel and experience Prince Edward Island with the bonus of qualifying to win a prize of Island souvenir apparel. As required by the program, travellers must participate in at least one of three Island tours, and they have proven very popular over the years with this year's total ballot count of approximately 700.
There are three types of tours: Community Museums Passport Tour – participants visit at least seven member museum sites across the Island and have their Community Passport stamped along the way; Tip-To-Tip Tour – participants visit the East Point Lighthouse Craft Shop and the North Cape Interpretive Centre and receive a "Tip-to-Tip" ribbon at one end of the Island and a certificate at the other; Lighthouse Lovers Tour – participants visit at least four of the seven lighthouses listed in the Lighthouses of Prince Edward Island brochure and have their brochure stamped at the lighthouse sites and receive a Lighthouse Lovers Certificate.
"The campaign provides interested parties with an incentive to travel all over Prince Edward Island," said Philip Brown, Minister of Tourism. "Many of the participants comment on how much fun they have during their travels, and ten lucky winners get to remember their trip through the prizes given out after the draw. It's a great incentive."
Winners for the 2003 summer season included travellers from the following areas: Ontario (2); Alberta (1); Saskatchewan (1); Quebec (1); New Brunswick (1) Ohio (1); Michigan (1); Illinois (1); and Florida (1). "It is really interesting to see the origins of the winning tickets," noted Minister Brown. "Ironically, we ended up with a nice cross-section of North America and we hope it is indicative of our customer base and overall appeal."
The Tour The Island promotion runs from mid-June to October 15. Participants may enter one ballot for each of the tours completed with ballot boxes located in all Provincial Visitor Information Centres. Entrants must show a Visitor Centre counsellor a stamped Community Passport, a Tip-to-Tip Certificate or a initialled/stamped Lighthouse brochure or Lighthouse Lovers Certificate in order to enter this contest. A ballot can then be completed, stamped by the counsellor and entered in the ballot box at the Visitor Centre. The contest will run again in 2004 so get your itinerary ready and fill out your ballots, you could be our next winner!