|
MacKenzie Getting The Real Story on Tourism |
|
|
|
Written by NS Liberal Party
|
|
Friday, 18 November 2005 |
Halifax, N.S. - Liberal Leader Francis MacKenzie has found yet another region where Tourism stats are inconsistent with that of the provincial government numbers.
In its 2005 Tourism Insights report, the government states that occupancy rates In Halifax accommodations and the number of room nights sold so far this season are down by 2 per cent.
Many hotel operators say those numbers don’t even come close to the real picture, and they say the provincial stats seldom do.
“Our tourism business was down probably 15 to 20 per cent, maybe more,” said Seymour Trihopoylos, the general manager of the Stardust Motel in Bedford. “We’ve been in this business since 1999 and when business is good, the numbers are better than what we see, and when it’s bad, the numbers aren’t as bad.”
MacKenzie says the Tories are refusing to give the public the real story when it comes to Tourism. “Operators are suffering, and the department of Tourism is pretending everything is great, when it clearly isn’t.” said MacKenzie.
“I am having a difficult time finding operators that support the government statistics on tourism declines,” he said. “We won’t be able to correct the problem until we know exactly what we’re dealing with.” |
