Watching Visitors Spin Around on Princess Street

In 2023, from my west-facing Princess Street window in Uptown Saint John, I noticed the same scene repeating itself almost daily during cruise season. Visitors would step off the ships, walk up toward Germain and Princess, pretty much the centre of Uptown, and then stop.

Maps would come out.

People would turn in circles, looking one way, then another. Someone would point down the street. Someone else would check their phone. They’d look up, look yonder, look around for a local to ask a simple question:

• Where’s the nearest café?
• Is there a good bar around here?
• Where can we get lunch?

After watching this happen over and over again, it started to frustrate me. Not because people were lost (that’s normal when you arrive somewhere new)  but because I knew the answers were all around them.

Saint John has fantastic restaurants, bars, galleries, and small shops. The problem wasn’t that things didn’t exist. The problem was that visitors simply didn’t know where to find them.

That’s when the idea for a New Brunswick tourism app started to take shape.

Building a New Brunswick Tourism App From Scratch

Instead of just complaining about it, I decided to try solving the problem.

With the help of a colleague, I started building NB Buzz, a mobile app designed to help people instantly see what’s around them anywhere in the province.

It’s a bit like having a local friend show you around, minus the awkward small talk.

One of the most useful parts of the app is its location alerts. As you move through the province, NB Buzz will notify you when you’re near somewhere worth stopping.

You might be driving past a hidden beach, a historic site, a local market, or a restaurant known for something special, and the app simply lets you know it’s there.

After two years, the app officially launched in August 2025 and has been slowly growing ever since.

Designed for Visitors But Surprisingly Helpful for Locals

Although NB Buzz started as a way to help cruise passengers and tourists find their way around, locals often find it just as useful.

New Brunswick is full of places people drive past every day without realizing what’s nearby. A scenic trail might be just minutes away. A small café might be hidden around the corner. A weekend market might be happening down the street.

Because the app is constantly growing alongside the Experience New Brunswick blog, new locations and events continue to appear on the map as they’re discovered.

For visitors, it’s a simple New Brunswick travel app that helps them explore the province more easily. For locals, it often becomes a reminder that there are still plenty of places left to discover close to home. An events category is also on the way. 

Getting the App Into the Right Hands

Since launching the app, I’ve been trying to share it with tourism groups and local organizations that work closely with visitors.

I’ve reached out to places like the Uptown Saint John BIA and the Saint John Port Authority, hoping the app might help cruise passengers and travellers get around the city more easily.

Because when you think about it, that moment when visitors step off a ship and start turning in circles with a map in their hands is exactly where a New Brunswick tourism app like NB Buzz could help the most.

The technology exists. The information exists. Sometimes it just needs to land in the right hands.

A Small App With a Big Local Mission

At its core, NB Buzz isn’t trying to compete with massive travel platforms or global review sites.

It’s simply trying to solve a very local problem.

Visitors come to New Brunswick looking for great food, interesting places, scenic trails, and memorable experiences. Those places exist all across the province, from Saint John and Moncton to small coastal communities and rural parks.

The challenge has always been helping people find them.

NB Buzz is one small attempt to make that easier.

And ideally, the next time a cruise ship docks in Saint John and someone steps onto Princess Street wondering where to go next, they won’t have to spin in circles looking for answers.

NB Buzz is just one example of how K-Media turns local ideas into digital tools that help businesses and communities get found online. If you’re looking to improve your visibility, you can learn more about our digital marketing services in Saint John.