Tourism Minister, Jeffrey Lantz announced to the members of the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island (TIAPEI) that the 2002 tourism season broke all revenue records with a grand total of $352,917,941 for the period May to October 2002 – an increase of 7.5 percent over 2001. The Minister was guest speaker at the TIAPEI Annual General Meeting held at the Rodd Royalty Inn in Charlottetown today.
"We are very pleased that the industry has exceeded all expectations towards revenue for the 2002 season, and we have shown strong growth in the number of parties travelling to Prince Edward Island as a vacation destination as well," noted Minister Lantz. "Many factors were playing on the success of this past season, and I must say that it is pleasing to see the final results in our favour."
Beyond increases in revenues and parties travelling to the Island, the additional marketing generated towards the New England market proved very successful. The number of parties from this particular area of the United States grew 8.3 percent over last year and garnered a strong 22 percent of the market share of the tourism industry for Prince Edward Island. The revenues from the New England market grew a substantial 15 percent over 2001.
"The industry is always interested to hear what the statistics say after a busy season in the tourism sector," said Kim Green, outgoing President for TIAPEI. "Operators work hard at their respective businesses and have a sense of what the season means to them personally. Gauging the entire province's final results means we can measure the achievement of our marketing efforts and streamline these efforts to capitalize on successes in the future."
Ms. Green leaves the position of President of TIAPEI after a two-year term, succeeded by Mr. Gordon MacInnis, incoming President.
In addition to the speech by Minister Lantz, the full-day meeting agenda included sessions such as a new touring product, waste watch, labour force analysis and a presentation by the Honourable Mitch Murphy on the Sustainable Resource Policy for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
"We have a prosperous year to analyze as we begin to plan for the 2003 season," said Minister Lantz. "The fact that we enticed more parties to visit Prince Edward Island, who in turn spent more money while they were here, incites government and industry to work together to build a strong future for the tourism sector. And that is what we will do for the 2003 season."