Nova Scotia to spend $18M to boost tourism

HALIFAX — Visitors from Atlantic Canada will be able to come to Nova Scotia beginning June 23, and the province is “on track” to welcome people from the rest of the country as of July 14.

“Our case numbers and hospitalizations are low, and every day we are putting more and more vaccines into the arms of Nova Scotians,” said Premier Iain Rankin on Tuesday in a news release.

“Low case numbers across the Atlantic provinces are a signal that reopening to our neighbours is the right step.”

At the same time the premier’s release was being issued, Tourism Minister Labi Kousoulis was telling reporters about $18.2 million in tourism restart money from the government.

Kousoulis said the package will help the industry prepare to welcome visitors to Nova Scotia as part of a phased reopening strategy.

“We’ve worked with the sector and developed a restart package that will reenergize communities and help our operators prepare to open their doors and attract customers to the many unique experiences that Nova Scotia has to offer,” Kousoulis said.

The minister announced $3 million in new money for marketing efforts, making a total of $5.8 million. One-third of the advertising dollars will be spent in Nova Scotia, the rest elsewhere in the country

Before COVID-19, the tourism industry in Nova Scotia generated $2.6 billion in revenue and helped to employ 40,000 people across the province.

“We don’t anticipate that we’re going to reach the level we were at two summers ago, but we anticipate that there’ll be interest from individuals to travel,” said Kousoulis.

“We know there’s a lot of family members that want to visit each other, a lot of people that want to come home to visit, also people looking for a vacation. Most of us in this country haven’t travelled outside our jurisdictions in 18 months, so there is a pent-up demand there.”

An initiative called the Tourism Accommodations Restart Customer Attraction Program will help registered tourism accommodations tailor marketing to encourage overnight stays. Eligible operators will receive a grant of $1,000 per room for the first 10 rooms, and $500 per room for each additional room.

“We recognize that our tourism industry took over a billion-dollar hit. This isn’t to replace all the lost revenue they had; what this is to do is help them have a kickstart to attract people to stay at their motels, hotels and bed and breakfasts across the province,” said Kousoulis.

“The industry is not looking for government to make them whole, they’re looking to government to help them attract the people travelling and staying in hotels again.

“The biggest thing (operators) wanted was certainty around the dates. One tourism operator said if your dates are not locked down and they’re ambiguous, people will just wait until they have certainty.”