By Eric Bourque
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
Confirming what many people surely have noticed this summer when glancing at the licence plates on cars in Yarmouth, figures from Yarmouth and Acadian Shores show a major drop in the number of American visitors.
The data for the month of July indicate that 184 U.S. visitors stopped by the Yarmouth and Acadian Shores counter, compared to 1,090 in July of last year.
The total number of visitors to the YAS counter for July was 983, down from 2001 in July a year ago, while the number of Canadian visitors was 718, down from 816.
The Yarmouth and Acadian Shores counter is located in the provincial visitor information centre.
The first summer since the loss of the ferry has been a tough one for many in tourism, although there seems to be a sense of “cautious optimism” among people in the industry that the area will have a ferry in 2011, says a spokesperson for Yarmouth and Acadian Shores.
Losing the Cat was widely expected to have a devastating effect on the tourism sector in southwestern Nova Scotia.
“The numbers until the end of July that we’ve seen indicate that we’re looking at declines between 25 and 75 per cent amongst a large cross-section of the industry in the immediate Yarmouth area,” said Larry Peach, general manager of the Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Tourism Association. “It’s hit-and-miss outside (Yarmouth) and I think it’s typically like any tourism season at this stage. Some places are actually up. That might have to do with specific marketing techniques or specific product offerings as well, but it’s a very noticeable impact. You just see there are far fewer American plates.”
On a positive note, he points to a good number of visitors in the region from elsewhere in Canada, although these don’t make up – and weren’t expected to make up – for the loss of American visitors who normally would have come here on the Cat.
Another positive this season has been good attendance at events and festivals, Peach saying event tourism – attracting visitors through events like Music Week – is going to be important regardless of what happens with regard to a ferry.
“We need to strengthen the experience base (of Yarmouth and Acadian Shores) because we’re still in the field of tourism development and we’re going to continue along that line,” he said. “Certainly the marketing aspect is up in the air (because of the uncertainty of the ferry situation).”
He says those in the industry would welcome some good news on the ferry issue and the sooner the better.
“I think at this stage people are hopeful and are trying to hold off making serious decisions regarding their business,” he said.
