P.E.I. tourism industry hopes new animated Anne series will bring back Japanese visitors [Video]

The number of Japanese visitors to P.E.I. has never returned to the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, but some tourism operators hope a new animated series about Anne of Green Gables — and the attention it’s getting in Japan — will help.

The new Anne Shirley anime series continues the story beyond Anne of Green Gables, into the next two books in the series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It begins airing in April on the NHK network. 

“A lot of travel agent is doing a promotion tying up with the this new anime series,” said Katsue Masuda, who has guided Japanese visitors on the Island for decades with P.E.I. Select Tours. “So hopefully we have more Japanese tourist this year.”

Tourism operators on P.E.I. are hoping a new animated series about Anne will re-ignite interest in visiting the Island. Japanese visitor numbers have never returned to the levels they were before COVID-19, and people in the …