Silk purse out of a sow's ear....

Valarie, it took someone in your department over a month to come up with this crappy press release??? Surely your high priced help must know that an 18% increase in nothing equals nothing as it relates to air traffic but a 22% decrease in bridge traffic during a sunny July must send shivers up the bone. Come clean and get your staff working on some creative ideas for tourism and not spending their time on creative writing... Houston, we've got a problem...
Air travellers to P.E.I. fail to save July tourism
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
CBC News
Tourism on P.E.I. was down considerably in July compared to last year, despite continued strength in visitors arriving via the Charlottetown Airport.
Overall, room nights sold were down 6.5 per cent over July 2007, despite an 18 per cent jump in air traffic, according to a report released Wednesday by the provincial government.
The jump in air traffic was erased by a 22 per cent decrease in Confederation Bridge traffic, and an 11 per cent drop in people taking the ferry.
In a news release accompanying the report, the Department of Tourism saw some hopeful signs. With the increase in air passengers came more overseas visitors, with room nights sold to those tourists up almost six per cent. Cruise ship traffic is up 102 per cent on the year, and the fall cruise schedule will continue to improve those numbers.
"The decline in numbers is of concern, knowing how important the tourism industry is to the economy of the province," said Minister of Tourism Valerie Docherty.
"However, we need to realize when looking at year-to-date figures, visitation is down only one per cent overall. There have been national concerns raised over decreased tourism and we are feeling those effects as well.
"Tourism PEI, along with its industry partners, must continue to work aggressively to attract visitors through strategically planning to build those numbers."
The bad numbers were not shared evenly across the province.
The south shore district, around Charlottetown, was down just 1.4 per cent, and is virtually unchanged for the year to date. The east was hardest hit, with 16.5 per cent fewer room nights sold.