News release

Tourism Campaign for Ontario and New England Expanded

Tourism and Culture (Aug. 1999 - Dec. 2003)

TOURISM/CULTURE--Tourism Campaign for Ontario and New England Expanded


Nova Scotia's tourism campaigns in Ontario and New England will be expanded this summer to bring in more visitors from these two key markets.

Using $500,000 from the existing marketing budget, the Right Here Right Now television campaign currently running in the Maritimes will move into Ontario. The expanded campaign will also include additional newspaper advertising and billboards and a direct to consumer e-marketing component.

"This is an excellent opportunity for Nova Scotia to be front and centre in Ontario as people make decisions about their vacation trips," said Rodney MacDonald, Minister of Tourism and Culture. "We are just finishing up a strong spring campaign in Ontario and we need to continue showing Nova Scotia as an immediate vacation destination."

The department is also expanding its marketing activity in the northeastern U.S. with an additional $170,000. As well, $75,000 has been earmarked to extend co-operative marketing efforts with tour operators who are already selling Nova Scotia in this market.

"This is the right action to be taking at the right time in the right markets," said Paul Stackhouse, chair of the Nova Scotia Tourism Partnership Council. "This expanded activity will bring in more visitors from these key markets."

"TIANS supports this move at this time," said Nicholas Carson, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia (TIANS). "We need to keep up the momentum, reinforcing Nova Scotia as a destination of choice to our potential and returning travellers."

The expanded campaigns in Ontario and New England will make use of existing money within the tourism budget. In some cases, campaigns that had been planned for the fall are being moved forward.

Last year, 372,000 visitors came to Nova Scotia from Ontario and spent about $106 million. To the end of May this year, there has been an overall increase in visitors from Ontario. Most have come in by air, while road traffic is down about 30 per cent.

Last year, 114,400 visitors came to Nova Scotia from New England. There has been a 16 per cent reduction in that traffic to the end of May this year.

In the first part of this year, the total number of visitors to Nova Scotia was down, however, figures for the month of May and preliminary figures for June are suggesting a slight improvement.

The Department of Tourism and Culture spends approximately $13.5 million a year on tourism marketing and promotion.

Nova Scotia's $1.3-billion tourism industry provides jobs to thousands of Nova Scotians and is a significant source of export dollars.