Latest news with #TourismP.E.I.
CBC
04-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
P.E.I. government grilled over $100,000 spent on New York trip before NHL partnership was struck
Social Sharing There were more questions in the Prince Edward Island legislature Friday about the costs associated with the province's deal with the National Hockey League, with Opposition Leader Hal Perry blasting some "incredibly expensive parties" that were involved. Perry tabled invoices from events the governing Progressive Conservatives held in New York in 2023 in the lead-up to signing a contract that saw the Island branded as the NHL's official travel destination. There were bills for consultants, entertainment, catering and a photo booth rental, among other things — all adding up to more than 100,000 of Island taxpayers' dollars. "What did we get out of these incredibly expensive parties in New York?" Perry asked Tourism Minister Zack Bell during question period. The contract with the league shows that the province will pay between $7.5 million and $8.4 million in direct costs to the NHL over the course of three years in exchange for access to the league's marketing machine. The Opposition Liberals have been hounding the PCs to scrap the deal in light of the trade war with the United States that has many Canadians reconsidering their investments in American companies. Bell, who was not the tourism minister at the time of the government officials' trip and did not attend, said the partnership could generate an estimated $34-million return on investment for P.E.I. That figure comes from a presentation that provincial tourism officials made to a standing committee last fall, and is a projection of combined marketing value and tourism spending. Tourism P.E.I. said it hired an outside firm to calculate the value the province is receiving for its marketing dollars, and it's confident the returns have been worth the cost to Island taxpayers. Province tried to 'create buzz' Bell said the 2023 event in New York and the costs associated with it were meant to get the province on the NHL's radar. "Anytime that staff or anytime that ministers meet with any individuals, the goal is always to promote Prince Edward Island," Bell said in the legislature Friday. "You try to… step outside the box to try to create a buzz, try to create some awareness of… what you offer and try to attract people to come." The invoices for the New York trip tabled by Perry include, in Canadian dollars, $3,000 for entertainment, nearly $7,500 for the photo booth rental, and almost $16,500 to a catering company. The documents also show Tourism P.E.I. paid over $56,000 to a New York-based consultant from July to December 2023 for the "planning and execution of tourism meetings" — what Perry said amounted to a glorified "party planner." On another note Friday, Bell said the province has hired a consultant to evaluate the success of government officials' trip to the NHL's 4-Nations Face-Off earlier this year. That was the NHL's replacement for its traditional All-Star Game, and featured teams made up of players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States. (Canada won.) The province's partnership with the event, separate from the travel destination contract, cost more than $500,000, according to records previously tabled by the Liberals. Perry asked how much the latest consultant will cost, but Bell did not have an immediate dollar figure. The Opposition leader suggested the whole file should be examined by the province's auditor general.
CBC
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
P.E.I. tourism industry hopes new animated Anne series will bring back Japanese visitors
The number of Japanese visitors to P.E.I. has never returned to the levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, but some tourism operators hope a new animated series about Anne of Green Gables — and the attention it's getting in Japan — will help. The new Anne Shirley anime series continues the story beyond Anne of Green Gables, into the next two books in the series by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It begins airing in April on the NHK network. "A lot of travel agent is doing a promotion tying up with the this new anime series," said Katsue Matsuda, who has guided Japanese visitors on the Island for decades with P.E.I. Select Tours. "So hopefully we have more Japanese tourist this year." Chie Miyamoto visited Green Gables Heritage Place during a brief visit to the Island in early February. Matsuda helped translate her comments from Japanese. "When her daughter was little, she bought at Anne of Green Gables book for her. So she's glad to see more people will see the Anne of Green Gables," Matsuda translated. "She told her friends she's coming to P.E.I. and see Anne of Green Gables, and a lot of her friends envy her ... Maybe with this new animation series, and maybe more interest, they would love to come to see Anne of Green Gables in person." Bestseller in Japan Anne of Green Gables was first translated into Japanese and published in Japan in 1952. It went on to become a bestseller, and a 1979 animated version of Anne was also very popular. "It was a big impact for children in Japan," Matsuda said. "And so still we have lots of customers that they grew up with that anime series." Prince Edward Island was for many decades a popular destination for Japanese visitors. Tourism P.E.I. reports Japan is second only to the U.S. for international visitors to the Island. The numbers started to decline in 2014, and Tourism P.E.I. launched several campaigns in the hopes of attracting more Japanese visitors, including one connected to a television series about Hanako Muraoka, who translated Anne. But it's been especially tough for companies that specialize in travellers from Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic. "The last five years it was very, very low and last year, some came back maybe still 30 percent of 2019," Matsuda said. "So it was not really great. So this year, hopefully we can get a little bit more people." 'Hopefully it's gonna be huge' The Island's tourism industry is also hoping the animated series will give Japanese numbers a boost. "Traditionally, the Japanese market was really, really strong ... We haven't quite seen that rebound post pandemic, but certainly an important market for us," said Corryn Clemence with the Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island. Canadian tourism officials are predicting that spending by Japanese travellers will rebound in 2025, reaching above 2019 levels, and that visitation will have fully recovered by 2026. In a statement, Tourism P.E.I. said Anne of Green Gables is a key piece of the Island's overall tourism draw, and it's hoped the new series helps create more awareness of P.E.I. as a travel destination. Clemence, for one, will be watching to see how the series impacts tourism. It'll be certainly interesting to hear from Parks Canada and some of our Green Gables operators if they're getting some inquiries and some interest —Corryn Clemence, Tourism Industry Association of PEI "I'll be reaching out to our tourism department to see if they're seeing any spikes in visitation for online visits to the website, kind of those kind of traffic indicators," Clemence said. "It'll be certainly interesting to hear from Parks Canada and some of our Green Gables operators if they're getting some inquiries and some interest. We'd love to see that market grow." The company making the show is planning a series of events featuring the cast, as well as promotions in bookstores, to help build up buzz before the debut in P.E.I. tourism officials hope that buzz will have a ripple effect in Prince Edward Island. "Anne of Green Gables is always loved by a lot of Japanese people and the first anime series was a big success and this one will be bigger, I hope," Matsuda said.
