Occupancy Reporting was introduced to the Prince Edward Island tourism industry in 2005 and required all accommodation operators to file their occupancy-related information on a monthly basis providing data for the industry which will be used for future planning.
Honourable Minister, Philip Brown noted, “I am very pleased to announce that the department has been overwhelmed with the tourism industry’s response to this new program. We are presently experiencing a 97% compliancy which is excellent and speaks to the value that our industry partners see in the system.”
Occupancy reporting has been identified as being key to the success of the tourism industry for analysis and planning within the industry. The web-based program allows accommodation operators to collect and report data related to their customer base and has enabled Tourism PEI to convey more detailed and comparative information about activity within the accommodation sector back to their tourism partners.
To provide some insight, the reporting system details information such as the area of the Island where visitors are staying; where they are travelling from; the types of facilities they are occupying; as well as the visitor volumes from month to month. All of this information is vital as the sector works together to build upon strategies for attracting more and more visitors to Prince Edward Island.
The occupancy reporting system developed by Tourism PEI is unique in Atlantic Canada in that it provides information on both occupancy rates and the origin of visitors. The Department has worked closely with Island industry partners on the initiative and, in the next few weeks, Tourism PEI will introduce custom reports to operators with information which will be key to our province thriving in the highly competitive market of tourism.
The Minister added, “Research is a large component of the tourism plan for the coming years, and we are very pleased that operators across the Island have embraced the occupancy reporting system to ensure the industry’s success.” He continued, “Results from the first two months of 2006 confirm that the year is starting off on a very positive note with room nights up 12.5%.”
Research based publications can be found on the Tourism PEI government website at www.gov.pe.ca/tourism/index.php3. Comparative occupancy tourism statistics from 2005 can be found on the government website and is titled, Tourism Performance 2005 – Year-end Review.”