Tourism Performance Rises Again

Nova Scotia's tourism industry is poised to outperform last year's record growth. Recent Tourism Nova Scotia statistics show that occupancy rates, traffic and literature requests are tracking ahead of 1997, a banner year for the tourism industry.

A 10 per cent jump in road visitation was recorded between May 1 and July 31 over last year, while provincial room sales were up eight per cent. Year-to-date reservations are up 22 per cent and requests through the province's toll-free number increased 15 per cent.

"Operators around the province are telling us they're having a good season all around," said Manning MacDonald, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. "This stellar performance can be attributed to many factors, from strong economic conditions in all our major markets to stronger partnerships with industry operators."

Tourism Nova Scotia employs staff who count the number of vehicles arriving at entry points throughout the province. Their efforts show that from May 1 to July 31, 581,300 visitors drove to Nova Scotia. By mid-August, U.S. traffic had increased by five per cent over last year, while Canadian traffic was up 10 per cent.

Air visitation to Nova Scotia was also up 10 per cent between May 1 and June 30 over the same period last year. Just more than 31,500 visitors entered Nova Scotia by air in May and 44,300 in June. International air travel is showing the biggest jump, climbing 52 per cent over last year.

Tourism Nova Scotia also receives and tracks monthly occupancy reports from tourism operators across Nova Scotia. In June, provincial room sales were up nine per cent over last year, with more than 237,400 rooms sold. This brings the year-to-date increase in room sales to eight per cent over 1997.

Enquiries from provincial marketing programs are also tracking well ahead of last year. By late August provincial marketing ads generated more than 100,000 enquiries, double the amount for 1997.

"We expected to see an increase in inquiries, in part because of an additional $2-million provincial contribution that went into this year's marketing plan," said Doug Fawthrop, chair of the Nova Scotia Tourism Partnership Council and managing director of White Point Beach Resort. "From a marketing point of view we're also confident we'll reach the target set for 1998, which calls for five per cent growth over last year's billion-dollar performance."

Other tourism performance highlights from such statistical 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:

• Overall museum attendance was up 41 per cent for the first half of the year. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, with its Titanic display, continues to have the busiest year in its 16-year history. Between January and July, it welcomed more than 140,000 visitors, a 149 per cent increase over the same period in 1997.

• Counsellors helped 209,600 people at visitor information centres this July, marking a 27 per cent increase over the same month last year. There is a 28 per cent increase year-to-date.

• Literature requests and reservations through Nova Scotia's 1-800 number were up in July by 30 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

• Virtual Nova Scotia website enquiries are up 25 per cent over 1997 and the number of site visitors doubled. French and German pages have also been added to the provincial tourism site.

The Nova Scotia Tourism Partnership Council is also working on the 1999 provincial tourism marketing campaign. A series of input sessions held across the province in August attracted more than 300 people. Participants discussed a wide range of issues --from the choice of target markets to the types of experiences to highlight in campaigns. Plans are to present the full marketing campaign for 1999 at the annual tourism conference in November.