The World Reads About Nova Scotia

Almost 209 million people around the world read about Nova Scotia in 1998, as a result of various media programs operated by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

The value of the publicity from various feature stories and event coverage was $42 million, an increase of $14 million over 1997, and an increase of $17.6 million over 1996.

Much of this coverage resulted from media familiarization tours. Over 250 media guests visited Nova Scotia in 1998, ranging from BBC TV crews to representatives of French, Finnish, German, American and Japanese publications. The familiarization program for tourism media, supported by significant private sector co-operation and investment, takes visiting travel writers from core and developing markets to the places, attractions and accommodations that the province has to offer. It supports the province's marketing campaigns by obtaining credible third-party endorsements in influential publications.

Direct mailings of travel features and event information to selected travel writers also supported the familiarization activity.

The hottest topic in coverage of Nova Scotia in 1998 was the province's connection to the Titanic. After the movie was released in December 1997, Halifax cemeteries, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and sites such as Yarmouth and Cape North, Cape Breton, became the focus of world media attention.

The Cat, the new high-speed ferry between Yarmouth and Bar Harbour, Me., also received extensive coverage, both nationally and internationally.

Some of the highlights of 1998's media coverage include the following:

• A one-page article in Golf Digest, with a circulation of 1.5 million, highlighted Cape Breton's Highland Links, Bell Bay, Dundee and Cheticamp. The coverage was worth $395,000 to the province.

• The German ADAC Magazine, circulation 2.05 million, wrote about the South Shore, Annapolis Royal, Cape Breton, Digby and Kejimkujik National Park. ADAC is the German equivalent of the Canadian Automobile Association. The value was estimated at $1.26 million.

• Nova Scotia's African-Canadian heritage was highlighted in a cover story in the St. Petersburg, Florida, Times. The story was valued at $129,500 worth of publicity.

• An eight-page article on the Halifax Regional Municipality appeared in Winds, the in-flight magazine of Japan Air Lines. Its value was conservatively estimated at $835,000.

• In May of 1998, Architectural Digest devoted four pages to Lunenburg. With the magazine's monthly circulation of 944,000, the publicity value was $864,000.