If you market it, they will come but some say P.E.I. tourism should go beyond ‘driving revenue’ [Video]

On a beautiful sunny day in late July, Bryson Guptill stands by the roadside in Victoria-by-the-Sea on Prince Edward Island’s South Shore, at the spot where hikers doing the Island Walk should see a sign saying they have reached Waypoint #2.

But there is no sign here. At some point during the last year, it disappeared. That happens. Some signs get damaged by snow plows, and sometimes people just take them.

“They like them as souvenirs,” said Guptill. “Especially the little signs that are on the Confederation Trail. They’re very popular.”

Guptill is one of the creators of the Island Walk, a popular 700-kilometre hike that connects existing trails and publicly accessible beaches to circle around P.E.I. He still acts in an advisory capacity to the small volunteer board, and he knows the missing signs are a problem.

Bryson Guptill talks about how the Island Walk came to be, how …