‘I love it here’: Tourists flocking back to Halifax in record numbers

Halifax has enjoyed an increase in tourists so far this year.

The Harbour Queen pulls away from the dock, bringing another group of tourists on a cruise around the historic Halifax Harbour.

“Total visitation or stays in hotel rooms is up 2.6 per cent last year. That’s on top of the growth that we’ve had for previous years,” says the president and CEO of Discover Halifax, Ross Jefferson.

“It’s really encouraging. We’ve been on a long trend of upward movement for almost a decade now. Last year, representing the height and the apex so far.”

That’s an all-time high of 1.6 million night stays booked according to Jefferson.

I love it here, everyone’s so nice,” says Cape Cod resident Penny Vincent.

Growth is being seen across the board from business travel and conventions to individual leisure travel and cruise ships.

“I never came along the Seaport and this is absolutely gorgeous. I went to Peggy’s Cove years ago,” Pennsylvania resident Linda Rodak says.

“We have the most visited area in Nova Scotia on the Halifax waterfront,” adds Patrick Sullivan, the president and CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

Provincewide spending also hit record levels, bringing in $3.5 billion.

“We saw a significant increase in air travel last year rather than road travel so air travel folks are great, they come and rent a car and stay in hotels and eat meals and we should prepare for more visitors in Nova Scotia,” Sullivan says.

As more people come to Halifax, Jefferson does have some concerns about the city’s ability to keep up with the growth.

“We simply can’t build enough hotel rooms fast enough, so having the supplier of hotel rooms will be a little bit of a limiting factor,” Jefferson says.

That’s something that will need to be addressed if Halifax hopes to continue to be a destination for people from across Canada and around the world.

As good as the tourism numbers are right now, Jefferson is expecting huge things for next year with several large events planned.

Announcements on what those events are should be coming out in the next few weeks.

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