Taking steps
Western Gulf Fishermen’s Association president, Craig Avery, said fishermen took steps during the fishing season to help prevent fishing gear entanglements by whales, and after the season closed, assisted DFO personnel do a sweep of lobster grounds for missing or forgotten lobster gear.
P.E.I. tourism numbers were down slightly during this year’s poor-weather June. “June-uary was one of the worst Junes for weather in recent memory,” said Tourism Minister Chris Palmer. “Despite that, our entry points remained strong, our golf numbers were close to even, and yearto-date we were only slightly behind last year’s record season in terms of overnight stays.” All entry points to Prince Edward Island, including the Confederation Bridge, the Charlottetown Airport, and Northumberland Ferries, reported traffic close to par with last June 2017. Accommodations saw a drop in demand. Total overnight stays dropped 5.4 per cent compared to last June and are 1.6 per cent behind 2017’s record year-to-date numbers.
“We’ve been keeping in close contact with operators across the province and the majority say they are pacing on par or slightly ahead of last year for the remainder of the season.” Tourism Minister Chris Palmer
The 2017 tourism season was the fourth straight record year for tourism in Prince Edward Island. For the first time the province recorded more than one million overnight stays and welcomed just over 1.5 million total visitors. “We’ve been keeping in close contact with operators across the province and the majority say they are pacing on par or slightly ahead of last year for the remainder of the season,” said Palmer. He added, “All the same, we are enhancing our regular marketing campaign to increase our presence on social media, and in print and broadcast media to help attract additional short haul visitation from the Maritime provinces.” Annually, the tourism industry employs more than 7,700 fulltime equivalent workers and contributed $447 million to the provincial economy. To see the June tourism indicator report, go to www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/publications/current_monthly_ indicators _0. pdf.