Western Nova Scotia’s tourism organization is working with operators in hopes ferry service to the U-S can be salvaged.
Bay Ferries can’t begin passenger service until US Customs and Border Protection approves the $8.5 million upgrades to the terminal in Bar Harbor and it’s cancelled passenger bookings up to and including July 18.
Neil MacKenzie, the executive director of Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Tourism Association (YASTA) says everyone is trying to cope the best they can.
“One of the things we’ve done is work with Bay Ferries to reach those passengers that we know will be diverted to the Fundy Rose (which sales between Digby and Saint John). We’re going to have our Visitor Information Centre staff who would normally be on the CAT, be on the Fundy Rose.”
The hope is divert some tourist traffic to western Nova Scotia.
MacKenzie says YASTA will shift some marketing to a more “Nova Scotia-centric focus”.
He says tourism operators have been very frank with him.
“a lot of them are disappointed. they depend of this service so much. There are tourists here already, so they are coming here but the lion’s share of our visitation is from passengers aboard the CAT. This is going to impact the bottom line of a lot of our operators. It’s a challenge because any kind of disruption can cause a ripple effect in the market.”
