News Release Archive
ECONOMIC RENEWAL--TOURISM INDUSTRY OPTIMISTIC -------------------------------------------------------------- While a number of factors have combined to dampen Nova Scotia's tourism season to date---namely the Atlanta Olympics, the 1996 U.S. presidential election and just plain bad weather---the general forecast from the province's tourism operators is sunny skies ahead. The good news is, based on a trend that's been developing over the last five years, the peak tourism period is shifting to the latter part of the season. That means September is growing at greater pace than June. Compared to September ,1991 road visitations, a good indicator of the number of people that visit Nova Scotia has grown by 12 percent and now represents 17 percent of peak tourism traffic. That increase translates into 18,000 more visitors in September,1995 than for the same month in 1991. All indications are that this trend will continue. Other statistics from Tourism Nova Scotia over the last few years have indicated a shift in travelling patterns with heavy visitation beginning in late July and running through October. "We've been fighting a lot of factors beyond our control this year," said Economic Renewal Minister Richie Mann. "Now we're seeing visitation and business starting to climb and more Atlantic Canadian licence plates on our roads." Regular service from Air Nova, Air Canada, Canadian, Air Atlantic, Northwest Airlines as well as the addition of North American flights from Canada 3000, have driven Canadian air visitation to Nova Scotia up 13% over last year. International flights from Air Canada, Canadian Airlines, Canada 3000, Icelandair and Air Transat have also been popular with Europeans. Icelandair's direct service from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Halifax is also experiencing similar success. Hans Indridason, Icelandair's manager for Canada, says Icelandair's service is doing "better than expected." He said bookings for August and September look good with 80% of business coming from strategic markets in Germany, Scandinavia and Iceland. While Americans are opting to stay close to their television sets and keep on top of the upcoming election, there is good news on the homefront. Nova Scotia is the top contender in the race to attract visitors from other Atlantic Canadian provinces. Dan Brennan, executive director of the Nova Scotia Marketing Agency, said the inter-provincial markets are vital to the province's tourism industry. "Atlantic Canada is our largest North American market and the fact that 13,000 more people from New Brunswick, P.E.I. and Newfoundland came to Nova Scotia speaks volumes about our tourism product, our operators and the effectiveness of our marketing strategies." The jump in Atlantic Canadian road traffic represents a five percent increase over 1995 year to date statistics. More Canadians are choosing to vacation within the country, and they still prefer Nova Scotia. The Canadian Automobile Association and its 3.8 million members gave Nova Scotia an overwhelming "thumbs up," ranking the province as the number one most "driven to" location in North America from April to June for the second year in a row. The top spot was based on a questionnaire circulated to more than 130 offices across the country. The top 10 destinations based on the association's ranking system, in order, were Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia, Florida, Alberta, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New York, California and Quebec. -30- Contact: Marsha Andrews 902-424-4207 mfm Aug.23 , 1996 2:10 p.m.