The August long weekend is often one of the busiest for The Simon Hotel on the Sydney waterfront. “(We are) sold out,” said Kenny Krszwda, food and beverage manager. “We have weddings, sports teams coming in – lots of bus tours from Canada, the U.S.” While places like the Cabot Trail are always busy this time of year, the head of Destination Cape Breton said this year rooms are scarce all over the Island. “Well, the August long weekend is typically the peak of the peak season,” said Terry Smith, CEO of Destination Cape Breton. “We did a quick scan and just about everywhere is either completely booked or close to being completely booked. So we should see occupancy rates certainly above 90 per cent for this weekend.” Looking beyond the long weekend, the Canadian Little League Championship is being held in Glace Bay, N.S., starting Monday. “Probably in the vicinity from 500 to 1,000 people from out of town and probably another 500 to 1,000 people coming home for the championship,” said Derrick Hayes, the tournament chair. While teams are being housed at Cape Breton University, others who are not staying with family will paying for a room. “If you went to call a hotel today for a ten-day stay during the championship, I think you’d be hard pressed to find one and that includes Air BnBs in the area as well,” said Hayes. Destination Cape Breton said there are still some rooms available here and there, so while you can’t quite hang a ‘no vacancy’ sign over the Canso Causeway for this long weekend it’s pretty close. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
