The Eastern Townships feature on the prestigious list of New York Times destinations to visit in 2023. The Quebec region, described as a “Canadian New England with a French style”, stands out, according to the American daily, for its epicurean gastronomic offer to discover while pedaling along the gourmet Véloroute.
“Montreal and Quebec City are the stars of the region, but the bucolic, lake-laced territory that stretches between them is often relegated to peeks through the windows of a rental car. “Laments the venerable New York newspaper. According to the latter, however, the Eastern Townships deserve that tourists devote a visit to it, “particularly since the recent opening of the Véloroute gourmande”.
To entice and make readers salivate, the New York Times mentions the some 100 gourmet stalls that line the 235 km of the cycle path. Cyclists who discover the region, details the newspaper, will find something to satisfy their taste buds in the cheese factories, vineyards, farmers’ markets and maple groves that dot the territory.
The Eastern Townships are the only Canadian destination to appear in the 2023 list of the prestigious American newspaper. The Quebec destination ranks 49th out of 52 sites to visit around the world. “Here is time-consuming travel at its best: pedaling through the Quebec countryside fueled by cheese, wine and, yes, poutine,” enthuses the daily.
Tourisme Cantons-de-l’Est is delighted with this “excellent news”. The region, the fourth most visited in the province, has 2,000 tourism-related businesses on its territory. The benefits of this industry remain essential for the regional economy: approximately 20,000 jobs gravitate around tourism in the Eastern Townships and the approximately 10 million tourists who visit the region each year generate a trickle, according to Tourisme Cantons-de-l’Est. -the East, nearly a billion dollars a year.