The agency that promotes tourism in Halifax has a master plan to draw visitors to the area.
Discover Halifax has updated a plan, first developed five years ago, called the Integrated Tourism Master Plan 2030.
“Why are we calling it integrated? Because it’s not just a plan for an individual institution, it’s really a plan for the entire industry. The suppliers in the industry, everything from the airport to the convention business to the taxi service, it’s all related. We are now embarking on the next version, on the update of that plan, which we are calling the Integrated Tourism Master Plan 2030,” says Discover Halifax CEO Ross Jefferson.
According to Jefferson, the purpose of the integrated plan is gain insights, experiences, and feedback from the public to better help them shape the future of tourism in the region.
“Obviously tourism is a growing industry. We know if we do nothing it’s likely to grow here. What we want to do here is we want to shape the growth to what matters to us as residents, and citizens here in HRM,” he says.
The engagement process included eight regional sessions at a few locations – Bedford-Sackville, Peggy’s Cove Region, Musquodoboit Valley and Eastern Shore (Sheet Harbour). They also held workshops with key stakeholder groups and interviews with tourism professionals. In addition, they have an online survey for the public to take part in.
“We’re finishing up the engagement sessions, so we had eight public sessions. We probably had about 35 additional meetings with special interest groups or those that are involved from the hotel association to the restaurant association to the airport authority as an example. It’s really about making sure that the entire ecosystem and the supply chain are growing together,” says Jefferson.
The goal was to gather views on new opportunities as well as challenges and priorities that the industry should focus on and make changes to.
“When we have five cruise ships in and conferences, this is a busy place, here on the waterfront, Peggys Cove in particular can only handle so much capacity, so we have been doing studies to find out empirically to find out the suggested number of people that these areas can handle,” says Jefferson.
Zoey Boosey recently opened Creme along the Halifax harbourfront. She says it’s been busy already but expects even more traffic when tourism season really starts.
“When tourists are in town, that’s what gets us through like the really bleak winter, snowy days for sure, we need it,” says Boosey.
Boosey also owns two additional restaurants and has another in the works.
“It’s grown so much, and the food scene has grown so much, and the tourism is a massive part of that,” says Boosey.
Jefferson says there are some great opportunities for new development.
“We’re looking towards the Eastern Shore, wonderful opportunities around the 100 Wild Islands. The Dartmouth waterfront is an amazing opportunity for the continued expansion of the waterfront experience,” says Jefferson.
What makes the Nova Scotia appealing to tourists are the same things that make people want to live in the province. Elaine Buchanan and her husband are from Calgary and are visiting their son in Halifax. They say they love the city because of its beauty and all the things it has to offer.
“We love the beaches, the ocean, the people, the food,” says Buchanan.
Kyle Merk moved to Halifax last year to go to school at Dalhousie University. He says being near the ocean has been a highlight for him.
“Going down to the beach, down to the dock with friends it’s just unbelievable to go there. The restaurateurs are all amazing here too, the bars, super good nightlife. There’s just tons of stuff to do,” says Kyle Merk.
Kyle’s father Jeff says he loves to visit and likes how the city has both new builds and its historical roots.
“The city has done a great job in the past ten years, from my experience coming here, of really sort of like regenerating but still maintaining its historical roots as well,” says Jeff Merk.
Boosey says we are moving in the right direction with tourism and upgrades in the region but hopes people continue to develop the waterfront.
“I think the more that we build on the waterfront, the more that we bring to Halifax,” says Boosey.
The next step for the ITMP (2030) plan is to take the recommendations from the plan to the council.
“We will be taking it to council likely around June. Ideally, we are seeking the adoption of the council for this to be the official plan. It will be the official plan for the industry and ourselves as well. The next step is putting our shoulders into it and moving the initiatives along. We have five years, we look forward to making those suggestions and recommendations,” says Jefferson.
Jefferson adds the tourism industry is not being hit with tariffs so those are dollars coming into Nova Scotia that the province can count on.
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