What future for tourist reception offices?

“The tourist reception offices in the province are increasingly deserted and are increasingly having difficulty recruiting staff, which leads them to ask several questions and try new things to reinvent tourist reception,” explains Émilie Marcil, research professional in the Experisens research unit, at the Institut de Tourisme et d’Écécélique du Québec (ITHQ).

According to her, reflection has started in recent years. What are we doing? What is the use, the use of these tourist information centers? I believe that at the moment, the whole of tourist Quebec is in this reflection.

The researcher indicates that most still work in a concept of distribution of leaflets with a person behind the counter. I would say that they have to review, not their vocation, but their useshe believes.

Travelers and citizens

Research stresses that reception offices must reinvent themselves to meet both the needs of visitors, but also citizens, as we can see more and more in Europe for example.

The citizen never goes to a tourist information office, but these offices should be designed around their leisure, curiosity, relaxation needsshe explains.

She mentions some examples, such as exhibition places, shared work spaces, or Cotravail, meeting spaces, and also places to reconnect citizens with their territory and their strengths.

She recalls that before the Internet, tourist information offices were a bit of a travel agency.

The reception agent made reservations at the hotel, in restaurants or for activities, for the traveler. Now tourists do it all upstream, well before going on a trip.

Now that we can book on the internet or by the phone ourselves, the tourist reception office really becomes a gateway to the region, a way to get in touch with citizensshe underlines.

She suggests that the counters should be removed and replace them with armchairs so that people can be closer to visitors.

Tourism office offices can be a place of meeting, contact, if they are rethought differentlyshe concludes.

The beginning of a large project

Tourisme Bas-Saint-Laurent (ATTRBSL), after an advisory approach, the observations of which he presented in the spring of 2025, is in charge of a five-year process this year in order to rethink the tourist reception.

The site is so vast that a new position has been created, that of director of reception and business tourism. Karine Lebel has held this position since June.

It really encompasses the reception in its broad sense: training, signaling, tourist roads, everything that is welcome, and we want to stretch it even to citizens, new arrivals, [pour] that the people in the place also reclaim tourist information officesexplains Ms. Lebel, stressing in passing that the reception attendants are specialists who really know their territory on the tips of their fingers.

This year, a first step was taken by harmonizing the formats of the six tourist guides in the region, that of the five MRC And the one for Bas-Saint-Laurent, because despite the presence of the Internet, travelers still use the more precise papier guide, once made on site.

L’ATRBSL also received financial assistance of $ 300,000, thanks to a program from the Quebec Ministry of Tourism, using which it wants to enhance the five main reception places in the region.

While with the same subsidy, Tourisme Gaspésie has decided to acquire five self-service tourist information terminals that it has installed in strategic places in its territory, in particular to compensate for the difficulty of recruiting labor and adapting to the realities of winter tourism for example, Tourisme Bas-Saint-Laurent wants to go further.

We still think that human contact is the strength of tourist news offices, so we don’t want to remove that. Yes, there will be technology in the projects that come from it, but we do not yet know what form they will take.

This is what makes our color. How long has you been saying that in Bas-Saint-Laurent we have warm, welcoming people, all that? Well, we will not be replaced by digitaladds Karine Lebel.

Travel evolution

Yvonne Tremblay has been director of tourism kamouraska since 2018, but she was also attended by the former Kamouraska tourist information office.

When I was a university student at the end of the 80s and 90s, it was my summer job, attended for tourism information for three summersshe says.

When I arrived in 2018, it was at the end of the life of the old building that dated 30 years old, the old red house, in which I started. So I participated in the transition, in the closure then in the opening of itshe said, showing what is now called the regional tourism house in Bas-Saint-Laurent, located on a tip going into the river, in La Pocatière.

Although the number one question of travelers has always been the same for thirty years, that is to say, Where is the restroom?she finds that there are many more travelers.

If we take our old office, we had two small toilets that looked like wardrobes and that was enough. Now we have five toilets for women, a men’s toilet, urinals, and sometimes there is a line! We see that the trip has become more democratic.

She also notes a greater presence of young families. The family became very mobile compared to 30 years ago when we did not see young families with emerging babies travel. It’s really a difference.

Since 2018, the biggest change has been without contradiction of travel planning. Most recently, in 2018 again, we could talk about the famous “nowhere“. At one time, it was popular the mode” we go to the unexpected “. Now, it is no longer advised, especially in summershe testifies.

The travelers we see have already reserved their accommodation, whether hotel, motel or campsite. What they want is knowing where to go for walking, where to have access to the river, what is special here that we do not find elsewhere.

Karine Lebel confirms.

People when they arrive at their destination, they want to really feel people in the place, that’s why they go to tourist information offices. So theIAonce made on site, it is no longer usefulshe says.

She reports in passing that theIA It is not always up to date on the opening hours of attractions and restaurants, and that he does not necessarily know the hidden, more nestled nuggets of the territory.

I think people really have the impression that tourist information offices are called upon to disappear, but they are simply called upon to reinvent themselves, quite simply, and to integrate the citizen into the reflection is very importantrecalls Émilie Marcil, of theITHQ.