Madam Speaker, My government, through Tourism PEI, has been very aggressive in its efforts to promote our province as a tourist destination. Those efforts have helped to bring about outstanding results for the tourism industry. Last year, more than 780 thousand people visited Prince Edward Island. Tourist expenditures totalled 178 million dollars, which represents a 13 per cent increase compared to 1994. Approximately 14 million dollars of tourist expenditures is returned to the provincial treasury in the form of sales tax.
I am pleased to announce that a new tourism promotion is scheduled to get underway next week. I will be in Toronto to officially launch the first annual "PEI Week". "PEI Week" is targeted at the Ontario marketplace. Approximately 40 per cent of our domestic tourism revenues come from Ontario visitors. Attracting tourists is a highly competitive business and we must constantly try to have our tourism products placed at the top of the list of potential visitors. "PEI Week" will help us to do that in Ontario.
The kick-off to "PEI Week" is a reception at Rodney’s in Toronto. Rodney is an Islander who has successfully operated his award-winning restaurant in Toronto for close to a decade and he has graciously offered to co-host this event. This reception will provide an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with key media and business people and to reinforce our message.
One of our key marketing objectives this year is to work at extending our tourism season beyond the traditional months of June, July and August. Attracting visitors from Ontario will be critical to fulfilling this objective.
While tourism is the key focus of "PEI Week", another opportunity presents itself. My government is constantly searching for business opportunities to enhance economic development on PEI. During "PEI Week", we will be able to highlight PEI not only as a place to visit, but also as a good place to live, work and do business.
During my time in Toronto, I will be visiting some businesses interested in locating in Prince Edward Island. I will also be doing some interviews to promote economic development and tourism in Prince Edward Island.