Travel to Nova Scotia

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Port Joli is situated in western Queen’s County on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. To protect an area against development of the whole area the Nature Conservancy of Canada has raised $462,000 to save an unspoiled area of 135 hectares containing sand beaches, eelgrass flats, tidal mud flats and coastal forests. As of today they are $50,000 short of their mark to buy the parcel outright.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is  a private, non-profit group that collaborates with both corporate and individual landowners to protect important natural treasures. They do this buying outright buying the land or working with the landowners to secure a property by donation. Since 1962, NCC and our partners have helped to conserve more than 2 million acres (over 800,000 hectares) of ecologically significant land nationwide. It is one of four migratory bird sanctuaries in the area and is a staging and wintering area for Canada Geese.

Besides it’s natural significance Port Joli is deemed to have an historical background as a Mi’kmaq settlement over 1200 years ago.

To contribute or just to help out contact:

Nature Conservancy of Canada

1-877-231-4400

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Bringing an airline into Yarmouth has been tried before. That’s why they have this great airport. However the air service was taken out and Yarmouth, the Nova Scotia port for the Fast Ferry, was left at the mercy of buses. So someone coming to Halifax would have to either have to bring a car or take the bus. Now,  you can park your car in the U.S. walk onto the ferry and then, on reaching Yarmouth, fly to Halifax.

Now whe would bring in an airline into a market that has seen two other airlines pull out, and during an economic downturn. Well, the answer comes right out of left field.  Starlink, a Quebec-based regional airline, is specialized in serving small markets and is bringing in 15 -seat aircraft to accomplish this. In addition the service will extend to Portland, Maine, to grab those who do not want to take the Cat Ferry.

Glen Lynch is the CEO of Starlink and he has made his airline in such areas where the big guys have fallen on their faces. His company has studied the area well and, with commitments from the Nova Scotia government, is very excited about the new route.

The service is twice-daily, one in the early morning and the other in the late afternoon. The cost will be $159 + taxes, or about 2 1/2 times as mushc as the bus. This little airline could possibly expand into other areas of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick vacated by Air Canada’s regionals.

How about backup to get it started? Yes the province is helping there. Richard Hurlburt, MLA for Yarmouth announced that the province would commit $2 million to the service for the next five years. This is a draw against bad times and the airline would dip into it. However, it is just a draw and subject to repayment.

They even have their ticketing site up. Click on Starlink.

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Nova Scotia has many websites dealing with the different areas of the province. Highway7.com is an Eastern Shore online magazine that captures the activity and spirit of this beautiful part of the province. From it’s beginnings at the end of Dartmouth’s Main Street Highway 7 meanders its way up some of the most picturesque areas in all of Canada. Now there is a site dedicated to sharing information on this area.

From angling to Romantic getaways you’d be hardpressed to find another site with so many links to hundreds of tourism destinations not only in the Eastern Shore area but in the rest of the provinces as well. And like many other burgeoning tourism sites they have their own Facebook group called Highway 7 Online.

The main thing I like about this site is that it allows you to plan a whole Nova Scotia trip. Of course the emphasis is on the Eastern Shore and the writers, Gail Martin and Jurgen Teuwen, have included over 400 articles describing life on this coast as well as illustrating it with thousands of photographs.

For up-to-date information you can also subscribe to their newsletter. They also invite story ideas and links for places they may not have mentioned.

Now if I have question on any place up that highway I have a site that may have the exact answer I need.

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At no other time in recent memory has a Canadian federal budget been more anticipated or discussed. In our form of government – based on the British parliamentary system- governments rise and fall on money bills and the annual budget is the biggest. This is especially true if the government is in minority, which means that, while the opposition parties do not have enough seats to govern, if they vote together they have more members. And while some may argue that going into debt is not a great way to help the economy (my credit card bill demonstrates this!) the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) is overjoyed.

On examining the yesterday’s budget TIAC President Randy Williams said, “The government’s new investments in Canada’s tourism sector announced in today’s federal budget will provide stimulus to the industry in these challenging economic times, and will help address several longstanding competitiveness issues facing our industry.”

What this means to Canadian tourism in dollars and cents is this:

• $40 million over two years to the Canadian Tourism Commission ($20 million for domestic marketing and$20 million for emerging markets)
• $100 million for marquee festivals and events over two years
• $150 million for Canada’s national parks system over two years ($75 million for visitor facilities and $75 million for national historic sites)
• $25 million to create new hiking trails across the country
• $407 million for improvements to passenger rail service in the Montreal to Toronto corridor operated by VIA Rail
• Additional funding of projects which will assist in the development of vital tourism infrastructure
• $24 million over two years for cruise ship tourism
• $60 million over two years for local and community cultural and heritage institutions (i.e. theatres and museums)
• $140 million over five years for Northern Economic Development , a substantial portion of which will be directed towards tourism projects.

Williams went on to say that, “These investments will help to improve product animation – or the way we deliver experiences – of some of
Canada’s most important tourism destinations, and will provide both international and domestic travellers with even more compelling and urgent reasons to visit Canada.”

“Moreover, the additional marketing dollars allocated to the CTC will allow the country’s national destination marketing organization to promote these new and improved tourism products to potential visitors from traditional and emerging economies of the world.”

What this means is that there will be help for Nova Scotia’s more than 6500 tourism businesses that employ over 40,000 people. This is not including the multiplier effect for the suppliers to the industry, rthe ones who provide the products to feed, house and entertain our travellers, contribute payroll and business taxes.

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ITravel 2000 is a Canadian entry in the discount travel market and one that has seen tremendous growth since its inception. It’s president, Jonathan Carroll voices his own commercials and they sound like he’s out of breath half the time. But he is unique and he put the travel agency on the map – or the net – with his innovative “Let It Snow” Campaign. In fact, last October, when high fuel prices had almost locked down the travel industry iTravel 2000′s snowy campaign drove a 75% increase in revenues.

Here’s how it works: Travelers who book a qualifying vacation with itravel2000 by November 2nd can get a free trip if it snows more than 5 inches on New Year’s Day at their respective weather station. Just last year Quebecers got a freebee when it snowed 8.1 inches in Montreal squeaking past Ontario residents by a few centimetres.  To qualify these people had to book vacations departing between November 1 and April 30th. This year it was Halifax’s turn and travelers will be receiving cheques for their fare refunds this week. This includes everything except the taxes.

But will it continue? Carroll responded to the question with a hearty nod. “We wanted to finish big and we got really aggressive. Consumers responded and sales were phenomenal”, said Carroll. “Given the dire headlines, it wasn’t surprising that our travel suppliers didn’t want Let it Snow to end, so we all quickly agreed to extend it until November 2″.

The Let it Snow program is a first for the industry and it took Carroll three years to put the package together. It is underwritten by WeatherBill, the world’s only online weather risk management service. Their customers are businesses who want to protect revenues from the effects of bad weather.

“We have taken out the largest single-day weather coverage in history,” Carroll says. ” WeatherBill’s significant risk capacity and simple, automated service for managing weather risk and promotions make them the perfect partner given the large scale of the Let it Snow’ program.” adds Carroll.

He went on to say that he and his company are behind the people praying for bad weather. “So we will be hoping for snow like everyone else – it would be fun to write cheques to our customers for free flights.” And there are some very happy people in Halifax that will be getting them.

Jonathan Carroll is also an outspoken advocate for fairness in the travel industry. On Friday, August 8, 2008 he released a petition signed with 22,364 names from people across the country to the Minister of Transport, – the Honourable Mr. Cannon – and the Chair of the Standing Committee on Transportation – the Honourable Mr. Tweed – asking people from across Canada to help lobby for airlines to advertise all-in pricing so consumers know the total price of a return flight. This was in response to complaints that people were getting surcharges added after the tickets were booked with travel agencies.

itravel2000 is Canada’s largest online travel retailer.  Over three million Canadian users a month visit its site to research and book travel.  For more information about itravel2000 go to www.itravel2000.com

fuel prices, itravel2000, jonathan carroll, travel suppliers, weather risk management, weather station