Sunday, August 3, 2008

"Gentle" Slide Down....

Last week the Provincial Government said tourism was up in June but bridge traffic was down, the car ferry was down 13%, and the National Park camp sites were down 28% and just last week Nova Scotia and New Brunswick released their figures for June and they are down 13% so how did our Tourism Department come up with their numbers? I don't think July's numbers are going to be all that good so hopefully August will be a bit better but I'm going to say it again that we have to focus on service and investment in new infrastructure if we expect to push our numbers back up...
Cavendish campgrounds complaining
Friday, August 1, 2008
CBC News
In the wake of conflicting reports over how the tourism season is going on P.E.I., campgrounds in Cavendish are saying July was bad.
Statistics released Wednesday show tourism numbers were up in June, particularly in Cavendish. But operators in the Island's premier resort town had been complaining business was slow in July.
Hennie Hoekstra, owner of Marco Polo Land, P.E.I.'s biggest campground with 527 sites, says June was a relatively good month, but that doesn't mean much to her.
"You can be up, but if you are only, say, normally 35 per cent full and now you are 40 per cent full, that's not a big increase," said Hoekstra.
"July was really bad."
It's difficult to know if private campgrounds across P.E.I. are also seeing fewer campers because the province didn't include those figures in the June statistics.
The government says not enough campground owners sent in their occupancy reports, and it needs 95 per cent compliance before it can file. The government does expect to release June campground numbers next week.
The report does offer numbers for the campgrounds at the Island's national parks, Stanhope and Cavendish. These statistics show their numbers are down 28 per cent for June. But again, Parks Canada is not concerned about June numbers.
"It's not historically one of the busier months we have in tourism either at the national parks or anywhere else out there," said Parks Canada spokeswoman Judy Trainor.
Trainor hopes that when the numbers for July come in, they will show an improvement at the national park campgrounds.

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