White Point, the beach resort on Nova Scotia’s South Shore is gradually becoming a winter tourism spot.Published on : Wednesday, December 27, 2017
White Point, the beach resort on Nova Scotia’s South Shore is gradually becoming a winter tourism spot.
“If you think the beach looks good in summer, you should see it in winter,” said Donna Hatt, marketing and product development manager at White Point.
Hatt led a group of winter walkers out on the rocks, through the smell of salt air and dormant wild rose bushes, to the very tip of White Point to celebrate the beginning of winter at exactly 12:28 p.m. on Dec. 21.
White Point Beach Resort is part of a new seasonality working group led by the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia. Darlene Grant Fiander, President of the association, said that there’s a growing recognition that the tourism industry should start its season earlier in the spring and extend later into the fall and winter.
She said that to some extent it is already happening, and referred to examples like Yarmouth businesses opening during a youth hockey tournament and winter events like the Icewine Festival in the Annapolis Valley.
“There’s a lot of good examples of work happening, but so much more could be done,” said Grant Fiander.
As of September 2017, tourism revenues were $2.1 billion for this year, compared with $2 billion in 2016, according to Tourism Nova Scotia. About 1,109,000 visitors came from July to September of 2017, with 82 per cent coming from Canada. Of that number, 34 per cent were from Atlantic Canada.
Tourism Nova Scotia thinks that growth in the off-season is important. Hatt thinks that Nova Scotia needs to better showcase its winter assets. White Point is offering experiences such as winter surfing lessons and going out on a working lobster fishing boat.
Tags: nova scotia, tourism destination