Tourism Booming In The Prince Edward Island

It was a beautiful summer day on Prince Edward Island recently and the beach at Victoria-by-the Sea was a fantastic place to be. The picturesque village between Charlottetown and Summerside on he Northumberland Strait is popular with tourists and Islanders and is known for its theatre and artisans.

July was a booming month for tourism operators, according to the latest provincial tourism statistics.

The numbers show a record level of overnight stays in Prince Edward Island with slightly more than 253,000 overnight stays in paid accommodations, which includes fixed roof accommodations and campgrounds.

This makes July 2016 one of the strongest Julys on record since occupancy reporting began in 2005.

Room-nights sold were also up by 11.1 per cent in July and just over 12 per cent for the year. Those figures were mirrored in campground site nights sold.

In its media release, the province chose to highlight that accommodations in Points East saw an increase of room nights sold by 12.8 per cent and campground site nights sold by 15.7 per cent from the same time last year, which the province says sheds light on the significance of ensuring a second ferry is secured to support the increasing tourism interest in the area.

The number of overnight stays increased by 11.2 per cent in July, fuelled predominately by strong visitation from New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec, and United States visitors. Year-to-date overnight stays are up just over 12 per cent.

“These strong occupancy statistics, as well as other tourism indicators, are a continuation of our positive industry trends,” said Tourism Minister Heath MacDonald.

“In addition, bridge, air, and motor coach traffic indicators are up which shows positive signs of tourists travelling to Prince Edward Island from various areas. Early indicators for August also look promising, and we look forward to welcoming new tourists in the coming weeks and months to our beautiful Island.”

The Confederation Bridge traffic was up by 12.5 per cent for the month of July and 11.5 per cent for the year. Air traffic was up significantly for the year at 15.8 per cent. Motor coach traffic was also up 11 per cent this month and up by 7.4 per cent year to date. Tourism activity was strong across the Island in July.

Robert Jourdain, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island (TIAPEI) says he was happy to hear such positive news for the industry in July.

“This has a positive ripple effect for every Islander and for the many other businesses who are impacted by tourism. Businesses all over the Island, both small and large, urban and rural will benefit,” he said.

“There has been a very strong effort put forth by everyone involved in tourism, from the many Islanders who greet our visitors, the marketing team and our tourism operators. This effort has created stronger awareness and more reason for people to visit and experience our Island, and share their stories.”

Tourism indicators are provided to the Province by individual tourism stakeholders and are compiled by staff in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

CANADA: Province Advised To Increase Tourism Marketing In Upcoming Budget

Island groups giving recommendations in pre-budget hearings.

The provincial government has heard from more Island groups about what they feel is important in the upcoming budget.

In it's pre-budget presentation, the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island called for more money for tourism marketing.

"In Prince Edward Island if we continue to take away the marketing and going every year it seems to be two to three per cent is reduced of our marketing budget and we just can't continue like that," said Kevin Mouflier, the chief executive officer of TIAPEI. "It's not acceptable. So that was a really strong message."

The association is also calling for an increase in the Basic Personal Tax Exemption, and does not support an increase in the Harmonized Sales Tax.

The Council of Canadians told the finance minister they are concerned about money going into the restructuring of education on P.E.I.

Leo Broderick, vice-chair of the group, made its pre-budget presentation on Feb. 18 in Summerside.

Reducing poverty

He said that education money should be put into reducing poverty instead.

"The entire emphasis is on increasing test scores and if we still have very poor children, very poor families, test scores will not improve in the province," said Broderick.

"We also raised the issue of needing a substantial amount of money in the province to deal with the elimination of nitrates both in private wells and municipal water systems."

Broderick said the council also asked that the minimum wage be increased to $15 an hour by 2017, and that there be no public service layoffs or cuts to employees' benefits.

He said the council also made the case that there should be no increase in the HST, calling it a regressive tax that hurts those who can't afford it the most.