By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Terry Grandy, president of the Innkeepers Guild of Nova Scotia and operator of Yarmouth’s Manor Inn, says Nova Scotia’s tourism industry is operating without adequate funding and the necessary transportation infrastructure. (Ingrid Deon )
Nova Scotia is facing the challenges of a changing tourism market with a military precision that would make a 78th Highlander proud.
"We’re evolving our strategies and tactics to make sure tourism grows in a changing marketplace," John Somers, marketing director with the Nova Scotia Tourism Department, said in a recent interview.
Tourism is touted as a $1.2-billion annual industry for the province, employing 35,000 people full and part time.
The provincial government has budgeted $13.5 million, including $5.5 million in direct consumer advertising — Internet, print, TV, radio and billboards — to promote Nova Scotia as a tourism destination in 2006, with $5 million allotted to services like information centres, travel literature and toll-free check-in lines.
Mr. Somers said that money is well spent, even though overnight visits to the province dropped four per cent in 2005 compared with the previous year’s level.
"Last year, we generated $69 million in receipts (revenues) tied to consumer advertising of $7 million," he said. "This year, we’re targeting a two per cent increase in revenues."
A number of factors combined to lower tourism visits to the province last year, including higher fuel prices, a stronger Canadian dollar and the loss of the Scotia Prince ferry service between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine, said Mr. Somers.
Beyond that, he said time, or rather a lack of it, has become a major challenge for the industry.
"People are time-impoverished," he said. "There is more last-minute planning."
To address that trend, the province is embracing Internet technology and, with industry, is being more aggressive about getting the tourism message out.
"People are shifting to the Internet as a primary planning tool," he said. "The web is a great way to tell people what’s going on."
Tourism operators can advertise on the novascotia.com website and the province, which advertises on travel websites such as Travelocity and MSN/Sympatico, has a toll-free check-in line (1-800-565-0000) that allows travellers to get up-to-date accommodation information.
Another growing part of the province’s tourism marketing effort is participation in travel trade shows, including the Bay Ferries Cat promotion in Boston from May 19 to 21 that will feature Nova Scotia musicians J.P. Cormier and the Barra MacNeils.
"We expect many thousands of people to come there," said Mr. Somers. The Cat will run between Yarmouth and Portland three times a week this summer, picking up the slack caused by the loss of the Scotia Prince last year.
The province and its tourism operators are participating in a half-dozen tourism and travel trade shows this year in markets like Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa and in Calgary, where a recent week-long ceilidh generated 4,000 hits on the Tourism Department’s website.
In August, the province will participate in the Milwaukee Celtic Festival, the largest Irish festival in the world.
"Nova Scotia is heavily associated with Celtic culture," said Mr. Somers. "We want to mine that vein."
Nick Carson, chairman of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, said there is never enough marketing money ("You can always use more") but he believes the province has an excellent base on which to build the tourism sector if it provides experienced travellers with memorable, quality experiences.
"You can market yourself silly, but you need to have a product people want to buy," he said, suggesting that more needs to be done to measure the effectiveness of the government’s tourism marketing investments. "I’m not convinced that we have a good handle on measurement."
Mr. Somers, who expressed some surprise at that comment, said the government’s use of direct response advertising gives it a good read on the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns.
"We’re very much into measurement," he said, although he acknowledged that some media are more measurable than others.
Dennis Campbell, president of Ambassatours Gray Line, said Nova Scotia’s tourism sector is getting a pretty good bang for the province’s marketing buck, but he said more should be done to promote Nova Scotia as a tourism destination in England and in Europe to counter the declining U.S. market. "You’ve got to change with the times," he said.