COURTESY / NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Seen here is a rendering of phase-two construction of the Acadia Gateway Center in Trenton.
Updated: November 23, 2020
Maine's visitor centers will adopt new technology in effort to drive tourism
Screenshot / DownEast Acadia Regional Tourism
Maine Tourism Association CEO Tony Cameron said plans are in the works to install new technology at the state’s visitors centers, with the goal of improving engagement with travelers.
The way that visitors receive and engage with information has changed dramatically, and the Maine Tourism Association says it's aiming to keep the state's visitor centers ahead of the curve.
“We want to put in new technology that allows us to engage with visitors,” such as user-generated content and real-time events promotions, Tony Cameron, the association’s CEO, said during the annual DownEast Acadia Tourism Symposium, held virtually on Nov. 19.
Cameron said that this year’s pandemic-spurred changes in travel have highlighted new trends in digital engagement. The association plans to review technological capabilities at each of the seven visitor service centers it runs on the behalf of the state, he said. In some cases, he added, simple changes will have to be made, such as adding more power outlets.
“We want to give people the ability to book attractions and accommodations and have the resources available right there to do so,” but also to be able to access the resources online while they’re on the road, he said.
Cameron predicted that traditional print publications will always serve a purpose.
“But we also know not all visitors want engage with them as they have before,” he said.
The association is looking at tools such as virtual rack cards. The association has already integrated some technology in the visitor centers, such as touch-screen kiosks that generate user-specified content and send information to travelers' phones.
“We’ll continue to do that,” he said.
The association also plans to look at ways to make the centers themselves more of an attraction so people stop in.
“We know when they stop into visitor centers, they’re going to stay longer and spend more money” in Maine, he said. “So we need to work harder to get people into the visitor centers and to engage them.”
Acadia Gateway Center
Cameron said the newest visitor center in the portfolio — the Acadia Gateway Center on Route 3 in Trenton — will provide a new set of opportunities to engage visitors.
Phase two of the Acadia Gateway Center's construction is still in the planning process. Phase one, completed in 2012, was a bus maintenance facility, park-and-ride lot, propane fueling station, access road and administrative offices for Downeast Transportation, the nonprofit operator of the Island Explorer shuttle bus system and countywide transit systems.
Phase two will establish a full-service intermodal facility and Acadia National Park information center. That construction is expected to cost $23 million.
As the state’s newest information center, it will be be adaptable to changing trends, he added.
Steve Lyons, director of the Maine Office of Tourism, said the Acadia Gateway Center is expected to break ground in 2022, with completion expected in 2024.
The vision for the center is to tell the “Downeast story,” Lyons said. That includes not just Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island but the larger region from the Deer Isle peninsula to Eastport, Lubec and Grand Lakes Stream.
The center is an “in-market” facility, which makes it a little unusual, he said.
Most of the state’s other visitor centers are along the highway.
“This one is close to Mount Desert Island,” he said.
In addition to being a place where visitors can book activities and get information, the center will serve as a transportation hub. The Island Explorer will use the facility as a base to bring people to and from Acadia and other places it services.
The center will also serve as a transfer station for commercial transportation providers who have tourism contracts in the park, Lyons said.
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