Mary Tulle, chief executive officer of Destination Cape Breton Association, said money raised through the accommodation levy will earn $460,000 for the organization this year, with an additional contribution from Enterprise Cape Breton Corp.

During a presentation to Cape Breton regional council Tuesday evening, Tulle said the marketing of Cape Breton must focus on its best assets such as the Fortress of Louisbourg.

“It’s an anchor of Canadian history. And when is the last time you saw it used in a provincial piece of marketing?” she asked.

“One of our primary goals is to turn this amazing piece of Canadian history that’s right here, that’s not something some people haven’t come across, but that it’s something people choose to visit when they cross the Canso Causeway.”

At visitor information centres across Cape Breton in 2010, Tulle said there were no bilingual staff people on hand to assist francophone tourists.

This year, the association plans to ensure bilingual staff are at visitor information centres in Sydney and Louisbourg.

“Eighteen per cent of the visitors who go to the Fortress of Louisbourg come from Quebec, and we were not able to service them in both of our official languages. We can this year,” she said.

Destination Cape Breton is also expanding its presence on mainland Nova Scotia with a Cape Breton-styled kiosk on the Halifax waterfront. Another kiosk is also open to visitors at J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport.

As Tulle spoke to council, she held a miniature pink double-decker bus in her hand. She’s a big fan of the possibility of bringing a “hop on, hop off” tourist bus service to Sydney that easily moves people from one area to another, increasing the pleasure of the experience at the same time, particularly for cruise ship passengers.

“There are 44,000 passengers who disembark from cruise ships that dock here, and they get off and they’re not quite sure what to do.

“Part of it is we’re not collectively educated enough about how to service our cruise passenger, and part of it is we don’t quite have a method to do it yet.”

The pink buses were introduced to Saint John, N.B., last year and will begin service this summer in Charlottetown, Tulle said.

She said she’s actively courting the service with the hope the pink double-deckers could be headed this way next year.

“If we don’t increase the quality of the experience, we don’t want to lose the cruise ships that are coming. And that’s one of the biggest concerns that we have to face.”

cshannon@cbpost.com