In addition to air, bridge and ferry traffic volume being up for the month of July, the indicators are strong and illustrate the strength and potential in this valuable sector of the PEI economy, says Minister of Tourism and Culture Robert Vessey.
“With several tourism related activities hosted throughout the month of July, it’s especially rewarding to see overall increases in tourism indicators,” said Minister Vessey. “We have worked with industry on initiatives that have helped to promote the Island as a premier vacation destination and the overall July numbers are showing positive results. While several Canadian destinations may be experiencing lower than expected tourism numbers, Prince Edward Island is showing it can have a positive impact on tourism visitation by building a strong collaboration between government and industry.”
French and English visitor inquiries (call volumes for inquiries, website activity, and volumes of kits mailed out) posted significant increases in July. Total overnight stays is up 7.6 per cent for July of 2010 over last year. The total overnight stays year-to-date is up 2.3 per cent.
“This growth is a positive sign at the mid-season mark, said Kevin Murphy, Chair of the Tourism Advisory Council. “We're expecting this trend to continue throughout September with the momentum of our fall tourism product offering including such festivals and events like the Island-wide Fall Flavours events and the International Shellfish Festival, the production of Hairspray at the Confederation Centre, as well as cruise ship visits and general leisure visitation.”
The Department of Tourism and Culture works with the tourism industry in collecting data for monthly tourism reports. A compliancy rate of 95 per cent must be met by Island tourism operators before monthly reports can be made available for distribution. The August performance indicators will be available by the end of September or early October depending on compliancy rate.
To access the full tourism indicator report, please visit www.peitac.com or www.gov.pe.ca/tourism.