The latest August tourism indicators reflect continued strong trends in tourism in Prince Edward Island, says Minister of Tourism and Culture Robert Vessey.
“Bridge, air and ferry traffic are all up year-to-date,” said Minister Vessey. “August 2009 was an extraordinary month due to the fact that we hosted the Canada Games for a two-week period. Although some of the August 2010 indicators are down slightly from last year, the industry continues to report an overall positive performance.”
The successful 2010 tourism season is attributed to several factors such as major events, strategic partnerships and improved online booking processes.
The August tourism indicators are now available on the Tourism Advisory Council website and the provincial government website.
Following are highlights of the current year-to-date indicators:
• Bridge traffic is up 0.7 per cent
• Air traffic is up 3.5 per cent
• Ferry traffic is up 5.9 per cent
• Cruise ship traffic is up 21.3 per cent
• Motorcoach traffic is up 14.9 per cent
Bridge traffic from New Brunswick and Quebec was solid throughout the month of August. Overnight stays are up 1.2 per cent year-to-date, with strong growth in both the US and overseas markets. There were significant increases in visitor inquiries in August through the website and Visitor Guide requests.
“The release of the August indicators certainly provides additional insight on the season performance, but they are only part of the 2010 tourism story,” pointed out Kevin Murphy, Chair of the Tourism Advisory Council of PEI. “There are mixed results amongst the sectors and regions of our industry but, generally, we are pleased with the overall upward trend in annual traffic patterns and our industry's ability to drive traffic with demand-generating events and experiences. We’re looking forward to the September and year-end analysis as we plan for broad-based industry growth in 2011 and beyond.”
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 September performance indicators will be available by the end of October or early November depending on compliancy rate.
The full tourism indicator report is available at www.peitac.com or www.gov.pe.ca/tourism.
In 2009, tourism added $374 million to the Island economy and generated $43 million in provincial tax revenue which helped to fund health and education programs.