Industry Upbeat About Performance

More visitors are arriving in Nova Scotia by road this year, while occupancy rates, literature requests and reservations continue to increase over 1997, recent Tourism Nova Scotia statistics show.

"All the indicators are looking good, which makes us very upbeat about this year's potential," said Doug Fawthrop, chairman of Nova Scotia's new Tourism Partnership Council and managing director of White Point Beach Resort. "If these increases continue, we'll be looking at another record year of growth for the tourism industry."

Tourism Nova Scotia employs staff who count the number of vehicles entering the province at various points. Their efforts show that from May 1 to June 30, 284,300 visitors drove to Nova Scotia. That's a 12 per cent jump over the same period last year. In June, U.S. traffic increased by eight per cent over last year. The jump is being attributed, in part, to the favourable dollar exchange for U.S. visitors and the new Bay Ferries' catamaran service between Bar Harbor, Me., and Yarmouth.

"The province, along with industry, has also put more money into advertising this year, and we believe that's helping to build more awareness about Nova Scotia as a popular vacation destination," said Mr. Fawthrop.

Tourism Nova Scotia also receives and tracks monthly occupancy reports from tourism operators in communities across Nova Scotia. In May, provincial room sales were up eight per cent over last year, with 174,800 rooms sold. This brings the year-to-date increase in room sales to seven per cent. The Eastern Shore is showing the strongest jump of 74 per cent for the January-to-May period, compared with last year. Cape Breton (14 per cent) and the South Shore (15 per cent) are also each showing significant increases over 1997.

"Some of the hoteliers in our area haven't seen the increases yet, but they're feeling confident because reservations for the rest of the summer are up from past years'," said Linda Deveau, area director with the Yarmouth County Tourist Association.

"There's overall recognition that it will take time to recover from the types of decreases we experienced on the accommodation side during the past few years," Ms Deveau added. "Our goal is to regain our place as a destination. Our ferry links and visitor packages on a range of activities are helping us to do that this year."

In Cape Breton, Peggy Anderson, with Kidston Landing in Baddeck, reports a lot more visitors this year. "June was up significantly over last year and we're seeing the same increases in July."

She attributed the increase to the new Bell Bay Golf course, which is helping to attract more meeting and convention business. "We're also seeing a lot of cars from Maine, and I'm guessing they're coming on the new ferry."

Other highlights of statistics from such sources as the Nova Scotia Museum, Canadian Heritage, Tourism Cape Breton, Halifax Port Authority, Transport Canada, Check In, and visitor information centres across the province, include:

• Just more than 31,500 visitors entered Nova Scotia by air in May. Overall visitation to Nova Scotia by both air and road for May was more than 150,000, up by 16 per cent or 21,000 visitors from the same month last year.

• Overall museum attendance was up 58 per cent in May over the same month last year, with almost 13,800 more visitors. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, with its Titanic display, is having the busiest year in its 16-year history. Between January and June, it welcomed 94,938 visitors -- a 149 per cent increase over the same period in 1997.

• The Halifax Citadel was the only national park or historic site in Nova Scotia to report an increase in visitation in June, with an 11 per cent increase in attendance, or 2,100 more visitors over the same period last year. Attendance at Fortress Louisbourg dipped by one per cent, while Kejimkujik National Park had a decrease of 12 per cent. The decrease is being attributed to wet weather in the last few weeks of June and to the fact Canada Day fell during the middle of the week. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum had a seven per cent decrease, with 900 fewer guests over June of last year. The museum reports it had fewer group visitors but individual visits were up.

• Counsellors helped 83,100 people at visitor information centres this June, marking a 22 per cent increase over the same month last year. There is a 29 per cent increase year-to-date, with over 32,000 more people advised over the same six months last year.

• Reservations and literature requests were also up in June by 20 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively. That's 1,500 more reservations and 17,800 more literature requests over the same month last year. Year-to-date reservations and requests were up by 14 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.