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Island Welcome Centre Program Where can I find information about the Island Welcome Centre Program?The Island Welcome Centre Program has been developed to assist private and community operated visitor information centres to increase their level of service to the travelling public, therefore, maximizing their ability to promote Prince Edward Island and their local communities. In particular, this program has the following objectives:
- to provide the travelling public with greater access to quality visitor information services presented in a professional, courteous and hospitable manner.
- to enable the private sector (community groups and retailers) access to designated signage, information and literature.
- to ensure a minimum standard of quality service is offered by private/community operated visitor centres.
Criteria:
All applications for the Official Island Welcome Centre program will be evaluated against a standard list of criteria. Following is the list of criteria:
- Must be a tourism related organization and/or business.
- Welcome Centre must be clearly identified and operated within a defined, prominent area. Appropriate retail items may be included in the centre (ie. souvenir crafts and clothing).
- Operator will provide the following training (cost recovery) for all staff dedicated to servicing tourist inquiries:
- Super Host Program
- Provincial VIC Training Program
- Provincial and local familiarization tours
- First Aid & CPR (fully stocked First Aid kit must be located on site)
- Island Welcome Centres will have staff dedicated solely to address the needs of the travelling public.
- Space must contain adequate literature racks to display provincial and local tourist information. Centre must also include an appropriate customer service desk which can adequately display a provincial road map.
- Must have access to a fax machine and/or the Internet in order to receive current information updates from provincial Visitor Centres.
- Regular hours of operation must be posted.
- Must have on-site access to public washroom facilities and a public telephone.
- Travel counsellors will be required to wear name tags and appropriate dress at all times.
- After hours, the centre will post such information as the Tourism PEI toll-free number.
- The Island Welcome Centres must be clean and tidy in appearance (inside & out).
Review/Selection Process:
All private and community based entities requesting designation under the program will forward an application to the Tourism PEI Customer Services Officer who is responsible for all provincially operated Visitor Information Centres. Upon receiving an application, the Customer Services Officer will arrange to visit the site and meet with operators of the proposed Island Welcome Centre (application attached).
Requirements:
- Each Island Welcome Centre is required to distribute all provincial literature (ie. Visitors Guide, provincial maps). Information will be available through the provincial VIC's or the Tourism PEI Distribution Centre. Note: Island Welcome Centres who wish to pick-up literature orders at their local provincial VIC must contact their local, Provincial VIC to determine the date which literature orders must be submitted
- Island Welcome Centres must ensure staff are adequately trained.
- The Tourism PEI Customer Services Officer will inspect each Island Welcome Centre at various occasions throughout the season. Island Welcome Centres will be required to incorporate feedback from these spot checks into their continued operation. Island Welcome Centres not able to comply with the stated criteria will lose all benefits associated with the program.
- Island Welcome Centres will provide a year end report summarizing comments/complaints, visitation notes and other information pertinent to the operation of the Island Welcome Centres and the Island Welcome Centre program.
Benefits:
Each certified Island Welcome Centre will receive the following benefits:
- Two (2) generic highway information signs (produced and provided by the province). In certain circumstances, the number of signs required for a particular Island Welcome Centre will be left to the discretion of the Tourism PEI Customer Services Officer.
- Two (2) copies of the PEI Information Book.
- Promotion of Island Welcome Centres in provincial publications such as the Visitor Guide and map.
- Access to training sessions coordinated for provincial travel counsellors, access to provincial FAM tours and assistance in coordinating additional training seminars as required (ie. Super Host, cost recovery).
- Access to customer comment cards.
- Identification in a Provincial brochure outlining all Provincial Visitor Information Centres and Island Welcome Centres across PEI.
- Access to the Island Welcome Centre official logo ( one Logo sign provided).
- Access to the Prince Edward Island poster series for resale at your VIC. The posters which are retailed at $5.00 (tax included) are available for Welcome Centres to purchase at the cost of $2.50 per poster. Posters may be purchased at your local VIC. If a large quantity is required, an advance order must be requested.
Financial Support:
Each designated Island Welcome Centre operated by a will be eligible to receive from Tourism a contribution of $500.00 towards the operation of the Island Welcome Centre.
The Tourism PEI Act is online as a PDF document.
Island Welcome Centre Application Form
 Printable version of this form
[83 KB PDF File]
Charlottetown
Shaw Building
Pollard, Heather (Supervisor, Visitor Services)
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