They’re figures that don’t exactly blindside Nova Scotia tourism officials.
The province released tourism numbers for the first two months of 2009 Monday and it paints a not-so rosy picture.
Overall, Nova Scotia saw 191,400 visitors in January and February, a nine per cent drop from the same point in 2008.
“It’s kind of what we expect (to see),” said John Somers, executive director of tourism for the province. “There is some long term trends here we have to be mindful of, but the most acute thing is definitely the economy. With the state of the economy playing havoc with business and consumer confidence, it would be naïve to think tourism, which is about discretionary spending, would be immune.”
The numbers also show that room nights sold for January and February were down five per cent compared to the same months in 2008. Results varied across the province, with Halifax seeing a decrease.
Also taking a hit was people travelling by air to the province — visitation via flights was down 17 per cent in the first two months. Visitation was also down four per cent in the number of people travelling to the province by road.
