Thanks to funding announced today by the federal and provincial governments, geocaching will soon be introduced to PEI’s south shore.

“Geocaching is enjoyed by people around the world,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). “Bringing this activity to PEI is an innovative way to attract visitors to the area and entice them to stay longer.”

The Minister of Tourism for Prince Edward Island, the Honourable Philip Brown, noted, “Visitors are always looking for new tourism products that will help them experience and enjoy PEI.” He added, “This progressive project combines the use of technology with the exploration of the pastoral and coastal beauty of the south shore region.”

With today’s announcement, PEI’s South Shore Tourism Group will produce a brochure and map promoting the south shore’s tourism attributes, and will develop a new website, www.geocachingpei.com, to promote the area to geocaching enthusiasts.

There are currently more than 21,000 geocaches in Canada; over 2,500 of those are in New Brunswick, almost 2,000 are in Nova Scotia, and 79 are in PEI.

“Geocaching is a growing activity, but it is not yet developed in PEI,” said Phil MacKay, Chair of the South Shore Tourism Group’s product development committee. “We are going to teach our operators about geocaching and offer it as an activity to visitors.” ACOA will contribute $17,350 to the project through its Business Development Program. The provincial government through Tourism PEI will contribute $5,000 and the Central Development Corporation will provide $4,000.