The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Lj WHF1MBYFRE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MAY 9,1990o, PAGE 17 Tourst cente prepares for summrsao By Mike Kowalski «Where are the nudist beaches loc atedr" -,,3elieveit or flot, that ie juet one of the many' questions direc- tèdtoteemplyees of Whitby's tourietiformation centre. 'And more often-than not, tour- ism ýclerk,'Doniseè.Young 'and'he eager staff will ha vi t h e ,îinswe to, that, and.. hundreds of other questions posed by visitors to DXXîhamReion. *ith mçore than 1,500 contacts ac e 'heprovince and over 125,00* "Ihinfrmation brochures staff are well'prepâied to handie even the toüest query., 1«We have the resouroes here to fiind it, if we can't answer their questions we'Il make phone caîls and keep trying until we do,» said Young. UWe get tough questions quite a bit, ey usuallly involve sorne- thing quite sjpeific.» said Young. Suceh as t e reon who once epent some thme a a fishin~ couldnt remember anything about it except there were some big epruce trees in front of the building. «He wanted us to tell him where it was,» said Young. Although open year round, staff of the Brock St. S. centre are preparing for what je their busiest season. if 1989 je any indication, it will again be a banner year for the centre, now ini its tenth year of operation. (F or the firet year of its eis- tenoe, the centre operated out of a trailer. The centre has been in its present location since 1982.) .Last year almost 28,000 people, both local residents and ;îdetors, passed through the centre. July was the buseset month with' 7,434 visitors., for an aegeof almoet 240people per Fý or isitors outside the area, 25 per cent were from provinces other than Ontario, 28.4 per cent were from the United States and 16.6 per cent were from Europe In fact, a map on one wallo the centre has pins inserted into it which indicate where the fore- ignisiftors live. Since last October some of the more exotic or remote locales include small islands near Aus- tralia, Hong Kong, Turkey and Iran. Although the centre'e prinary function is to provide informa- tion about touriet attractions and facilities in Whitby and Durham it essentially covers alo Ontario. "We're probably the only centre, other than minietry offices, which has information on ail of Ontario, said Làorna Sly Whitby's assistant marketig and economic development of- cer. «We can provide information on whatever you- want, whether ite somethinglocal or in another area of the Province,» eaid Solly Sources used to obtain %ifo- mation include the individual attraction, local tourism boards, government agencies and'resort associations. Solly noted that the centre has established a good relationship with the ownere of tourist sites in Durhamn. «Tlhey know we promote them, they appreciate what we're doing here.» A *24-billion industriy during 1988, tourism generatos direct employment for more than 630,000 Canadians accordinq te figures supplied by Tourism Canada. As a feature of National Tour- ism Awareness Week, May 14- 20, centre staff will be aslung anyone seeking information dur- inq the week te, register for a prize draw. Area residents will be eligible te win such items as free passes to Cullen Gardensj, Bowmanville Zoo, Family Kartwaye and Jun- gle Cat World in Orono. SEVE PAGE 45 THIfS YEAAR'S staff tourist iniiformation (left to right) Lorjn For your information.. at the Whitby Young, Jennif centre include Hîfliard, Sean is Soily, Denise Tournageau Cor es custom.- Cabinets "For cabinets with the quality of fizn e .furnitu-re. " -r Clarilngbold, Joan Drummi and Robin Fre. Pr.m photo Custom designed kitchen cabinetry to suit your speçflic r e uirements. " Solid Wood' only " Ail cabinets are hand made " Ail draWers are dovetail fastened " Cabinets of ANY kind and size designed to, suit OSHAWA, ONTARIO 725m 1723 1666-21211] m -- - w p