The Accidental Tourist

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Photo by Dani-i. Jeske/Tourisme Îles-de-la-Madeleine

Which means that people have the time to show off a local product, give you the inside track on a historic building or stop to chat. It’s in the off-season that tourists and locals actually get to mingle.

The concept of a low season may have evolved with time. Twenty years ago, Quebec City’s tourist season only lasted from the end of June to early September. Today, thanks to the winter Carnival, February is as busy as June. For every Quebecer dreading the snow (and the endless shovelling), there’s a Brit or Aussie revelling in its pure exoticism. “Those who come in winter know exactly why they’re here,” says Pierre Labrie, general manager of the tourist information bureau of what’s long been dubbed the world’s “snow capital.”

“For a destination that already operates at full capacity during summer, any increase in off-season traffic is better than just doubling the seasonal crowds,” says Steves, although he admits that these efforts don’t always pan out. After all, families can’t just take off when the kids are in school. As Bernard Arcand, anthropologist and author of Abolissons l’hiver! (Let’s abolish winter), suggests, the low season developed because of practicalities. “The concept didn’t arise out of the natural seasons but rather out of the school year and the rhythms of industry and business.”

The Real World

Besides people’s preferences and schedules, travelling in the low or shoulder season can also be a matter of necessity, especially in the most overrun destinations.

One Wednesday in April, elbowing my way through the crowd to get a glimpse of the replica David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, I tried to imagine the packed scene smack in the middle of July with the hot sun beating down.

Destinations where rest and relaxation were once practically guaranteed are starting to crack under the pressure of hosting so many vacation goers at the same time. Even in the tiny villages of Îles-de-la-Madeleine, there are traffic jams every night around the beginning of August.

“The reason why people travel in the first place,” says Arcand, “is to break out of their routine and experience something real. Those who travel during the low season believe that what they are experiencing is more real.” But seeking out this authenticity can sometimes lead to strange conclusions. “You’ll hear tourists say, ‘Oh, this is the real thing.’ Does that mean the other 50 weeks of the year are just pretend?” 

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