Tourist market more competitive than we realize

To the Editor:

As a Valley-based travel writer, I was very interested in your recent editorial (“We need to draw more tourists – period”).

The province has a lot of strong selling points, but as one provincial official recently told me, “People tell us they dream of coming to Nova Scotia - someday. We have a problem closing the sale and getting them to act now.”

I meet with lots of travelers and editors over the year. The American travelers I’ve met have liked the province, but said the messages they saw didn’t convince them they had to go to the trouble of crossing the border.

They can get lighthouses and lobster in Maine or New England. And we fortify that message by selling souvenirs of New England lighthouses at the Halifax International Airport.

Another problem is the perception that the border is going to be a hassle. They can be, but if you haven’t crossed a border before you don’t realize that it can also only take a few minutes to complete.

I don’t believe that the high Canadian dollar is keeping American travelers away. To an American, a dollar is a dollar. Most American travelers to Canada never knew before they arrived here that their dollar bought more. It was only when they were given change that they learned about the bonus.

Canada had decades to promote the currency windfall for American visitors and never did, so we can’t now claim it to be a factor in destination choice.

What’s going to be an even bigger problem for us regarding the American market is the effect of the subprime mortgage collapse. The fact that two million Americans are set to lose their homes will have a massive impact on how many people can or will travel. Not only are those people out of the travel market, their families, who may be helping them financially or taking them in, will also be less likely to spend money on holidays and travel.

We have a problem with airlift and flight costs. Last week in Vancouver I saw airfares to London that were $100 cheaper than airfares from Halifax. I have friends in London who have flown to New York and spent a long weekend in a modest hotel for less than the quoted airfare to Halifax.

We also have problems on the ground in this region. We’re nice, but our service isn’t necessarily as crisp as many international travelers expect. We also don’t differentiate or target our message as well as other destinations and we have to remember we’re not the only destination out there trying to draw visitors.

Our competition isn’t just New England or PEI or New Brunswick; it’s the world, and the world has a lot of nice places to visit.

Allan Lynch

New Minas