Tourists still drawn by Anne of Green Gables

A recent visit by Anne fan Kate Middleton may have put Prince Edward Island in the global spotlight last month, but it is literary royalty that continues to draw tourists to its red-earth shores. 

Few would have imagined one hundred years ago the impact Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel ‘Anne of Green Gables’ would have on tourism on Prince Edward Island, the home of beloved heroine, Anne Shirley.

Now though, the importance of the ‘Green Gables’ industry to the Canadian province is clear, with Anne-related spending last year accounting for nearly one-third of the island’s CA$370 million in tourism revenue, the New York Daily News reported.

According to the newspaper, one in four visitors to PEI takes in at least one Anne attraction – usually the recreated fictional town of Avonlea or the Anne gift shop in Charlottetown – as fans from across the globe come to relive the fable’s magic.

Among the largest contingents of visitors to the island are the Japanese, who will even plan their weddings at Green Gables.

“Many people think she was a real person,” said Chantelle Macdonald, who once played Anne in a theatrical production.

“It’s difficult to tell them this person did not really exist. They sometimes confuse Anne with the author.”

Source - etravelblackboardasia