Touring trails are becoming a visitor lure for the less-traveled regions of Canada. In fact, there are so many recipes for cooking up touring trails that sometimes just choosing the right ingredients can be a little daunting. Another touring route inspired by past lifestyles is making waves. Le Chemin du Roy bills itself as North America's earliest carriageable road; the touring route has its origins in early 18th century efforts to establish a royal roadway linking Montreal to Quebec City. Since then, dignitaries of all stripes from Pope John Paul II to Charles de Gaulle have been treated to the splendors of the landscape and the built environment on this portion of the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Le Chemin du Roy had been vaguely recognized for years as a scenic by way that takes visitors through various villages, offering a slower paced alternative to Highway 40. What tourism stakeholders wanted was to add some value to the historic roadway through product development. (Le Chemin du Roy crosses parts of the Quebec, Mauricie and Lanaudiere tourism regions).

At the heart of the touring route is local built heritage, says the general manager of the Trois Rivieres Visitor and Convention Bureau, Marilie Laferte. Using heritage as an axis for development enabled us to impart a long term vision to our project The tourism experience and heritage conservation efforts are closely intertwined; there is barely a kilometre along Le Chemin du Roy where there is not an inventoried or designated heritage resource. But because of the shear length of the touring route 250 kilometres or so- we work with features within the landscape or we try to build in an interpretive element about the contemporary environment. One of the key marketing tools we use is a map where the tourism product is clearly identified. At a more general level, we work with historic properties so that interpretive plaques are unveiled at key sites.

Beyond just the obvious economic benefits generated through tourism, when a community engages in touring route development, it often helps reaffirm local identity. It really nurtures something fundamental.

It is not surprising, perhaps, to discover along the way that legacy touring routes meant to be showcases for the benefit of tourists may bring even greater rewards to local people.

Who we'd recommend it to: An easy sightseeing pleasurable road trip-off the beaten track may just be cure where one cuts away from the everyday and explores! For all ages-with some magical places to stay along the way and the food!

ENJOY !

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