Thursday, December 19, 2019
Data collected by Tourism Nova Scotia shows that 194,000 non-resident overnight visitors in October 2019, down 3% or 5,400 fewer visitors compared with October 2018.
Between January and October, statistics show Nova Scotia welcomed an estimated 2,062,000 non-resident overnight visitors, down 4% or 89,200 visitors compared with the same period last year.
Research shows visitors arriving by air decreased by 1% or 900 fewer visitors in October, while visitation by road decreased by 4%, or 4,400 fewer visitors. Year-to-date October visitors arriving by air decreased by 7% or 54,700 visitors compared to the same period last year, while visitation by road was down 2% or 34,500 fewer visitors.
Across the province, 265,000 licensed room nights were sold in October, up 4% compared with October 2018. As of the end of October, operators say they sold 2,439,000 room nights this year, a decrease of 2% compared with the same period last year.
Data collected from AirDNA shows that 45,000 room nights were booked through sharing economy platforms in October, an increase of 18% compared with October 2018. Between January and August, an estimated 442,000 room nights were booked in Nova Scotia through those platforms, an increase of 35% compared to the same period last year. Given that accommodations who report occupancy directly to Tourism Nova Scotia may also be booking through sharing economy platforms, the two data sources should not be combined as it would lead to some double counting.
Tourism Nova Scotia collects and reports monthly tourism statistics on behalf of the tourism industry. Data is collected through in-person surveys of passengers at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, motor vehicle enumerators at the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border, passenger information from the North Sydney, Caribou, Digby and Yarmouth ferries, and occupancy reports submitted by accommodation and campground operators.
Nova Scotia’s tourism industry is working toward the goal of reaching $4 billion in annual tourism revenues. The industry generated an estimated $2.61 billion in revenues in 2018. An estimate of tourism revenues for 2019 will be reported when available.
Complete tourism statistics are available at http://tourismns.ca/tourismstatistics
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