Tour company Anderson Vacations apologizes for 2nd map mistake in 24 hours
A Calgary-based travel company has issued a second apology for mislabelling a map of Newfoundland and Labrador, less than 24 hours after saying sorry about publishing a destination guide that dotted the shores of Cape Breton with St. John's and other Newfoundland and Labrador communities.
Anderson Vacations created the map to promote its Charms and Treasures of Newfoundland Tour, an 11-day trip that also includes stops in Trinity, Twillingate, Deer Lake and along the island's Northern Peninsula.
However, in promotional materials for the tour, the company showed stops that were not in Newfoundland, but Cape Breton.
Another page of the guide labelled St. John's as Saint John — a city in New Brunswick — and St. Anthony on the Northern Peninsula as Saint Anthony.
A screen grab of the brochure has been shared — and mocked — on social media, showing communities such as Deer Lake, St. John's and Main Brook labeled on a map of Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island.
The first error and subsequent reaction prompted Anderson Vacations to issue an official statement of apology on Tuesday.
"We apologize to our partners and friends across Newfoundland for the map error," company CEO Corey Marshall wrote in a statement.
"Although our content management company, whom we contract to create the destination planner series, tries to use the best in technology mapping tools in this case there was a major technical error."
Marshall wrote that the error was also overlooked by the company's proofing process. He said work is underway to fix the error and the company didn't mean to offend anyone.
"This does not align with our organization's passion for the province and region," he wrote.
"We remain committed to continue to grow our number of passengers travelling to Newfoundland & Labrador."
On Wednesday, the company issued a second apology for incorrectly spelling St. John's and St. Anthony. It said the mistake has been fixed.
The company said it contributed to almost $1 million to the province from tours booked through its agency.