By BRUCE ERSKINE - Business Reporter
To paraphrase Van Morrison, you can't push the river when it comes to enticing tourists to Nova Scotia, says Terry Grandy, president of the Innkeepers Guild of Nova Scotia.
"There are many capable and experienced people in the Department of Tourism who have a vision and are doing a very good job to encourage visitation to our area, but without adequate funding and the necessary transportation infrastructure, they are attempting to perform a very difficult task," said Mr. Grandy, who operates Yarmouth's Manor Inn.
"Something like trying to push water with a stick; you work real hard but don't accomplish very much."
Mr. Grandy characterized the 2005 tourism season in Nova Scotia, which saw a four per cent drop in overnight visits, as "a disaster" and said many tourism operators are expecting a replay this year, a situation he attributes in part to the problems tourists have getting here.
"Nova Scotia is sitting alongside the most affluent and densely populated megalopolis in the Western world &emdash; the Atlantic corridor - yet we are very difficult to get to," he said. Recent American guests at his inn spent two days travelling by air and road to get there, he said, partly because Yarmouth International Airport has no scheduled carrier.
"Numerous potential American visitors have told me they would love to come to Nova Scotia but they just can't get here, either because of airline or ferry schedules," he said. "And they aren't prepared to drive the long distances required if they can't co-ordinate their schedules with either an airline or a ferry."
Mr. Grandy suggested that the province needs to adopt a bold transportation policy. "If we want the world to come to our door, we have to make it easier to get here and safer to drive once they do arrive here," he said.
Dalhousie University business professor Sunny Marche agreed that transportation infrastructure investment is critical to the province's tourism sector, as it is for general economic development.
"Transportation infrastructure is vital," he said, noting that getting to Nova Scotia from many places in the United States isn't easy and often involves travelling through cities like Montreal or Toronto, which have competitive tourist attractions.
Mr. Marche said Nova Scotia's tourism industry is also being seriously affected by unfavourable exchange rates ("We're not anywhere near the bargain we used to be") and planned border-crossing barriers like the need for U.S. citizens to obtain passports.
"It's very challenging," he said, adding that while steps can be taken to address the transportation and border issues, it is difficult to assess the success of current marketing campaigns. "You need more data to answer that unequivocally."
Mr. Grandy was unequivocal in questioning the effectiveness of marketing the province regionally to make up for a decline in U.S. tourist business resulting from the strong Canadian dollar, high fuel costs and lingering security concerns.
"This regional message is being directed toward the smallest geographic area of the country, the most sparsely populated area of the country, the area with the highest unemployment in the country and also toward the least affluent people in the country. How effective can this campaign be?"
He also took issue with the warm and fuzzy image that the province is trying to sell to tourists.
"The message that the Department of Tourism is putting out is we are safe, friendly, quiet yet fun. Doesn't this sound a bit like a boring date?"
The province is providing Bay Ferries, which is operating the CAT ferry between Yarmouth and Maine this summer, with a $1.25-million operating subsidy to counter the negative publicity associated with the Scotia Prince shutdown, but Mr. Grandy said it may be a case of "too little, too late."
He suggested that the government pays lip service to the tourism sector.
"Recently the province offered Stora Enso $65 million in an effort to protect 600 jobs in the Port Hawkesbury area," he said. "The Tories have been making financial commitments for various causes over the past few months, but there has been virtually nothing for the tourism industry.
"I feel that the government of the day does not take this industry very seriously and that the Department of Tourism is hamstrung by the limited amount of funding it has to promote Nova Scotia as a desirable and competitive destination."