Canada Games give tourism numbers a boost
Posted Jun 8, 2011 05:57:25 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Instead of a dry tourism spell over February, the Nova Scotia tourism industry was booming this winter due to a national sporting event.
Tourism Nova Scotia credits the 2011 Canada Games hosted over two weeks in Halifax.
“It’s safe to say the Canada Games were really good for tourism, enough to make a difference in the overall provincial numbers in the early part of the year and certainly with a big impact in Halifax,” John Somers told News 95.7.
Hotel room sales and air travel in to Halifax increased but Somers said everyone in the hospitality industry benefits from the economic spin-offs.
“Like all things tourism, it’s everybody’s business and it spans a lot of economic sectors,” said the executive director of tourism for the Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism. “Hotels are an obvious beneficiary, but everyone from taxis to restaurants to entertainment venues to retail stores (benefits).”
Hotel room sales were up 16 per cent across the province in February 2011 compared to February 2010.
Opening ceremonies for the national event saw about 2,700 young competitors, plus their trainers, parents and fans parade through the Metro Centre on February 10.
About 800 communities took part in about 20 sporting events, including freestyle and alpine skiing at Martock and Wentworth.
Tourism statistics during the games show road travel was down, which Somers attributed to poor road conditions, and overall visitor numbers year-to-date were down about seven per cent in February.
Somers said he thinks we can make up for the low visitor numbers over the summer months despite the miserable weather we’ve had so far.
“The forecast from the conference board indicates that we expect a modest increase in business this year,” he said.
