The Bonjour Niagara website (www.bonjourniagara.com) recently enhanced its web content in hopes of attracting more French tourists to the region.

While the site is not new, many of its features are, including a showcase of agritourism, sectioned into four different areas of Niagara, a cycling itinerary and "Les Coups de Coeur de Suzanne," a column written by a travel advisor who shares information on hidden treasures of Niagara's less-travelled routes.

"The exciting part of the website is that it's not strictly (to promote) advertisers. We created the site to reflect what the French traveller is looking for," said Venture Niagara project director Susan Morin.

"It is very detailed, it's probably the most detailed site on Niagara."

Morin explained that like any niche market, French travellers have particularly different interests.

To get a better idea of what those interests might be, creators of the website surveyed Francophones in Niagara, Quebec and beyond.

"We have quite a lot of information on the marketplace," said Morin.

Information on the website that might interest French travellers, Morin said, includes information on Niagara's wineries and fine dining.

She hopes the website will showcase places of interest that could be less known by french travellers.

"The intention is not only to draw guests to Niagara, but to extend their stay and to let them know what we have regionally before they even leave home so they can prepare for their trip," she said.

Morin used the cycling section as an example.

"If they see the features on cycling they will know to bring their cycling equipment or before they leave home, there is the opportunity to up-sell their trip to a two- or three-night stay to a five-night trip because they see all these other products and places."

Morin said a lot of other websites on Niagara just list the places, but do not feature the history.

This isn't the case for bonjourniagara.com.

"It's quite detailed. Even the Underground Railroad is identified."

The Bonjour Niagara Website created by Tourisme Franco-Niagara is a partnership between Tourism Niagara, Niagara Economic Development Corporation, Club 2000 Niagara Inc. and Venture Niagara Community Futures Development Corporation.