The Tourists Are Here, let's keep them...

It appears our Tourism industry is going to be in for a bit of trouble this summer with the price of gas and less US visitors so I think it's important for all of us to bear down and be very service orientated to any visitors we may come across. What's important to understand is the harder we all work together to go that extra mile to show people our true Island hospitality the easier it is to get the "word of mouth" working in our favour to restore our tourism industry. My wife and I were in Rustico tonight and we had an excellent meal at "By The Bay Restaurant". While there we met a middle age couple who were here from Florida that rented a Rustico cottage over the internet. The cottage owners, who were getting a coffee at the restaurant, ran into their guests and politely asked them if there was anything further they could do for them or help them with. They answered a few questions for their guests and before leaving they came back over and continued to offer any help they could. I overheard the guests commenting that the accommodations were exactly as described on the internet and how accommodating the cottage owners were. We seen quite a few tourists in the area but not a lot of businesses open so if you happen along some of these travellers please try and be as helpful as these Rustico operators were.
Travel to Canada hits record low for fifth straight month in March
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Travel to Canada hit a record low for the fifth straight month in March, following big declines in both same-day car trips from the United States and the number of visitors from overseas nations.Statistics Canada reports foreign visitors made 2.3 million trips to Canada in March, the lowest since record keeping started in 1972.That’s a one per cent decline from February, and a 12.4 per cent drop from a year earlier.Meanwhile, the number of Canadian trips abroad rose 1.4 per cent to almost 4.5 million, the vast majority (85 per cent) to the United States.U.S. residents made only 730,000 same-day car trips to Canada in March, down 2.5 per cent from the previous month.Same-day car travel to Canada has fallen by 41.1 per cent in two years.Overseas travellers to Canada made 384,000 trips in March, down three per cent.Travel declined in eight of Canada’s top 12 overseas markets, with the strongest decreases in travel from Mexico, Germany and Hong Kong.There were gains in visitors from India, Italy and the Netherlands.Overall, Canadians made 3.8 million trips to the United States in March, up 1.6 per cent from February. Canadian travel to the United States in the past six months has been the highest since 1998.Same-day car travel to the United States increased 1.5 per cent to 2.1 million trips, while overnight car travel rose 1.9 per cent to 991,000 trips.Overnight plane trips to the United States set a new record high for the fourth straight month.Canadian travel to countries other than the United States increased 0.4 per cent to a record 670,000 — the 10th month in the past year in which a new record high was set.