Rock With Nova Scotia in 2010

“Cape Breton Island ranked 1st  in 2006
as the Top Island in Continental US and Canada also ranked as an
Island Paradise in Fodor’s Travel News 2008″

Like most people who have visited Cape Breton I really like the place. I can see how people live there because its easy to  trudge through the January blizzards in the highlands when you know that the other seasons are fantastic. And if you are a skier this won’t matter.

Since John Cabot first landed in Cape Breton in 1497 explorers, fisherman and military ships have used her sheltered inlets for a safe mooring. Later on it was a key area in the struggle between the English and the French for the dominance of the New World. And later it became one of the industrial capitals of the country. Alexander Graham Bell had a summer retreat in Baddeck an even tested his hydrofoil on the great Bras d’Or Lakes. It the this history mixed with the beauty that brings people to Cape Breton.

However, like other places in Nova Scotia, and Canada as a whole, Cape Breton tourism has taken a heavy hit. In most areas room nights are down and industry analysts are being called in to help out. The old tried-and-true strategies are showing cracks and are not able to sustain the rate of tourists as they have in the past.

THe good news is that Destination Cape Breton Association (DCBA) and its tourism partners are developing a five-year Cape Breton Island Tourism Marketing Strategy. Working with the Honourable Peter MacKay, the minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the northern region of Nova Scotia is getting a good shot in the arm.

Vibe Creative Group of Sydney has been awarded the contract of developing the tourism marketing strategy . To advise this group is a team made up of representatives of the tourism industry, private businesses that rely on tourism and the funding agencies from across Cape Breton. They will have to look at former hurtles like the price of the Canadian dollar, the price of gas and the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and adjust their aim from there.

Years ago Europe was being wooed in a big way as a destination for Europeans but this died out as the funds for tourism were diverted elsewhere (Probably to fund the amalgamation the cites and look how badly that turned out!) Now with the economic downturn overseas Cape Breton is seeing more Canadian license plates on her roads. Because if going to the U.S. gets much tougher in terms of line ups and security we just as well  better get used to taking trips around our own back yard and its doesn’t get much better than Cape Breton.