STRATFORD, Ont - Teen singing sensation Justin Bieber put his hometown of Stratford, Ont. on the map with pop music fans.
Now teens stricken with Bieber Fever are scooping up a map of the pop star's favourite hangouts in the city best known for its renowned theatre festival.
The Stratford Tourism Alliance said Friday there is so much in-person demand, it has ordered a third printing of the paper version.
About 10,000 other fans from as far as England, France and Argentina have downloaded the "Bieber-iffic map" online since it launched two months ago, Spokesman Eugene Zakreski said.
About 1,500 fans, or "Beliebers" as some like to be called, have walked into tourism information kiosks and snapped up the map.
Zakreski said July statistics show about 25 per cent more new visitors came to the city than in 2009, and anecdotally, he's seen more young girls holding the map in their hands.
"They've come here specifically to see Bieber's haunts," he said.
"This year has been a pretty buoyant season."
The town usually sees swells of tourists from southern Ontario and U.S. border states during its annual Shakespeare festival, but Zakreski said hotels in the city are so full this year they're turning away customers and fielding double the phone calls they normally get.
Zakreski said that thanks to the Bieber map, kids favourite "Peter Pan" being shown at the festival and other aggressive ad campaigns, spring traffic on the tourism website for the city jumped 558 per cent over last year.
There's been such a response, the board is considering running organized tours around the time of the launch of the upcoming Bieber book and film.
The map features 18 points of Bieber interest, including a skateboard park, community centre where he entered a singing contest, Chinese restaurant, and a theatre where he sang and played for money on the front steps.
Fan Ashlyn Urquhart, 10, who is visiting Ontario with her family from Miramichi, N.B., said she thought the map was neat and she'd want to take a side trip to Stratford.
"It would probably be cool to see the places he goes," she said in Toronto, explaining she'd especially like to visit Bieber's favourite music store.
Mom Melissa said she would probably take her daughter on the 60-kilometre trip from a relative's home in London to Stratford if Ashlyn "bugged us enough," but would not make a special trip from New Brunswick.
At least one business listed on the map has noticed Bieber fandemonium among its newer customers this summer.
Dylan Morrow, 20, who has worked at Scoopers ice cream for the past five summers said the shop is normally busy, but he's seen more and more young girls come in since the store was designated a Bieber favourite.
He said they ask for the same treat the pop star used to choose when he lived in town.
Morrow, for the record, was the last employee to serve Bieber, who ordered a massive strawberry banana triple yogurt in a waffle cone for $6.
"I tell the little girls 'it's too much for you.' That's a lot of yogurt."
"We're pretty steady with the local crowd, but this summer we've seen a lot of extra tourism, but not relative to the festival as it would normally be. It's been more related to Justin Bieber hotspots," he said.
Zakreski said the tourism board came up with the idea when kids in town to watch Shakespeare plays on school trips walked up to tourism kiosks and asked about where Bieber went to school, and which restaurant is his favourite.
"With that in mind my antenna went up and I said this might be an opportunity," he said.
The map did not have any input from Bieber, nor his managers.
Zakreski said he based the map on publicly available information and spoke to Bieber's extended family in the town.
He said Bieber's mother has since responded positively to the map.
Justin Bieber shot to fame last year after posting videos of his singing contest on Youtube.
The videos caught attention of an American music manager who introduced Bieber to R&B star Usher who helped him launch his career.
