Monday, September 23, 2019
Nova Scotia welcomed 382,000 non-resident overnight visitors in July 2019, down 2% compared with July 2018. Visitation by air decreased by 7% while visitation by road increased by 1%.
Year-to-date July, Nova Scotia welcomed 1,230,000 non-resident overnight visitors, down 2% from 2018.
Across the province, 372,000 licensed room nights were sold in July, down 1% compared with July 2018. The Halifax, Eastern Shore, Cape Breton and Northumberland Shore regions saw increased room nights sold, while room nights sold in the South Shore, Bay of Fundy & Annapolis Valley and Yarmouth & Acadian Shore regions declined compared with July 2018. Between January and July 1,464,000 licensed room nights were sold across the province, down 2% compared with the same period in 2018.
An estimated 85,000 room nights were booked through two leading sharing economy platforms in July, an increase of 37% compared with July 2018. Between January and July, an estimated 243,000 room nights were booked through sharing economy platforms, an increase of 47% compared with 2018.
You can see full tourism performance indicators at Tourism Performance.
After several years of really strong growth, it isn’t surprising to see some softening in visitation. While there are many factors that contribute to visitation, reaching the $4 billion revenue goal requires everyone working together and embracing new opportunities to attract visitors and encourage tourism spending.
Our collective focus must continue to be on creating compelling reasons for people to visit our province, and strategic marketing to build awareness of Nova Scotia and keep Nova Scotia top of mind. We need to work to create more direct air links between Nova Scotia and our target markets. And once people are here, we need to make sure there are many great experiences for people to spend money in our communities. We need to leave a lasting impression that makes people want to come back.
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