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August Tourism Statistics Are Now Available

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Growth in non-resident visitation to Nova Scotia has softened in 2018 following Nova Scotia’s most successful tourism year on record. As of the end of August, Nova Scotia welcomed 1,694,000 non-resident overnight visitors, unchanged from 2017.

Approximately 438,000 people visited Nova Scotia in August, down 2% (-11,000 visitors) compared with August 2017.

Road visitation decreased by 8% (-26,000 visitors), however visitation by air increased by 12% (+15,000 visitors) in August.  We like to see growth in air travellers because they tend to spend more over the course of their trip, which means more tourism revenue.

Licensed room nights sold of 411,000 in August are up by 5% (+19,000) compared to August 2017.  Northumberland Shores, Bay of Fundy & Annapolis Valley, Yarmouth and Acadian Shores and Halifax each saw growth in room nights sold

While it is difficult to sustain high levels of growth year after year, visitation to Nova Scotia overall is on par with last year’s record visitation and is up by 9% (+138,000) over the same period in 2016.

Available data shows that Canada and many of its provinces and territories are experiencing modest non-resident visitation growth, and in some cases a decline in visitation, following the success of Canada 150.

For full monthly tourism results and historical data, see Tourism Performance.

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