Record number of tourists hit area: Records released at a Tourisme Pontiac Tourism (TPT) meeting earlier this month revealed that a record 2,730 tourists hit the seven student-run tourist centres in Pontiac this past summer. Last year, only 1,478 tourists visited the booths during the summer tourist season.

“I think it’s because of the cyclopark,” said Denise Morrissette, head of InfoPontiac, at the SADC, in Campbell’s Bay, attributing the success to a $1.4-million-dollar tourism project completed by Pontiac MRC in May, with the help of government grants.

“There has been a lot of publicity about the cyclopark,” Morrissette said.

While the number of people to visit the tourist booths has increased this year, the records do not accurately reflect the number of visitors to the Pontiac. Morrissette said the recorded number of booth visits is actually much lower than the number of tourists who pass through the Pontiac each summer.

“Those numbers are just for the tourist booths,” she said. “Some people come and don’t even stop at the booths.”

And that is not the only reason the numbers look so low each year.

The booths are only open for eight weeks during the summer and a lot of tourists come to Pontiac in the fall, Morrissette said.