Rock With Nova Scotia in 2010

The year 2008 will not go down in history as a banner year for nova Scotia tourism activity. Record-high gas prices , a strong Canadian dollar and the introduction of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), an American program that requires everyone entering into the U.S. to have a passport. Many operators were left in the red.

However, this was not true of those who benefit from the cruise ship industry. In fact Nova Scotia enjoyed a record year in this capacity as more than 125 cruise ships including the Queen Mary 2 docked in Halifax and another 50 in Sydney – and that’s a lot of people taking in the sights on tours and buying merchandise. The total came to over 228,000 visitors in Halifax and almost 77,000 in the Cape Breton port.

The tourism authorities announced that the total was over $25 million not including what the crew spent with another $8 million going to Sydney. Three other ports – Louisbourg, Baddeck and North Sydney – also had a total of 5 ships.

The season starts in mid-April and goes until the leaves are gone in the fall. The starting points are usually new York and Boston and the ships will visit Quebec City, Montreal and St. John’s, Newfoundland as well as Charlottetown, PEI

For 2009 the prospect is rosy as well. Predictions are that this year will top last year in terms of ships site explorations and dollars spent.