Canadian staycations lead to plenty of traffic on Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail

The beauty of the Cape Breton Highlands has been attracting people from all over Canada this summer, and some say they came because they currently wouldn’t vacation in the United States.

“Absolutely not,” said Daniel Williams of Sarnia, Ont., while he was exploring Green Cove in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park on Sunday. “I love Canada. You’ve got to stay here nowadays.”

Williams added he is back touring the Cabot Trail after being captivated by its scenery during a trip to the area in March, but said the current political climate sealed his plans for a summer return.

“I’d prefer to stay in Canada and keep our money here, support local businesses around the area,” Williams said.

Local businesses in the area are seeing the rise in Canadian visitors as well.

“We had a group from British Columbia last week that indicated they normally do go south, but they said they would be traveling within Canada this year,” said Dan Coffin, owner of the Auld Farm Inn in Baddeck.

Coffin said while some other operators he has spoken to have not been as busy lately as they had hoped, he has been fully booked all but a couple of nights so far in July.

He added that his bookings have included plenty of American tourists.

“We’ve had a number of U.S. visitors also coming in and saying they chose to come to Canada this year to support Canadians,” Coffin said.

Coffin also noted that having a mix of Canadians and U.S. visitors has made for some interesting conversations around the breakfast table.

“Some are either hesitant to say they are from the U.S., and some start off by saying ‘Sorry for our political situation at the moment’,” Coffin said with a laugh. “So, it is an interesting thing when you see the motivation behind why some people are coming.”

As the head of Emergency Management for Victoria County, Lyle Donovan travels around the area as much as anyone.

He said any extra visitors are a plus for a place that depends on the tourist dollar.

“It seems to be a little busier this year,” Donovan said. “It’s great for the economy for us here. We’re a tourist-based [place], tourism and fishing based, and this is the main part of our industry here in Cape Breton.”

“If you haven’t been to this part of the world, you should definitely come check it out,” Williams added.

On this sunny weekend in mid-July, people from all sorts of faraway places were doing just that.

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