Despite dip in visitor numbers, N.S. tourism revenue grew to $3.5B in 2024

Nova Scotia welcomed fewer visitors in 2024 than it did the year before, but tourism revenues increased by 10 per cent to $3.5 billion.

Last year, around two million tourists visited the province, marking a two per cent decrease compared to 2023. It's also a 12 per cent decrease from the number of visitors in 2019, according to government figures released Friday.

Visitors from other parts of Atlantic Canada made up the biggest percentage of tourists to Nova Scotia last year, followed by Ontario, which represented 29 per cent of tourists. 

Sean Buckland, vice-president of operations for Ambassatours Gray Line, says 2024 was the best year in his company's 38-year history.

"We saw a great amount of visitation from our neighbouring provinces in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Ontario was significant. I think three out of 10 passengers for us were from Ontario," he said. 

"Quebec was very strong as well, Alberta and British Columbia. We did see some traffic from New England and the [United] States as well."

Buckland expects that current U.S.-Canada tensions will prompt more Canadians to travel within the country, while American tourists may be inclined to visit in order to take advantage of the weaker Canadian dollar.

While Atlantic Canadians and Ontarians helped drive tourism in Nova Scotia last year, fewer people from those regions visited Nova Scotia compared to 2023.

"Since the pandemic, [Atlantic Canadians] haven't been returning to Nova Scotia quite as quickly as they have been to further away markets," said Anna Moran, director of research, planning and decision support for Tourism Nova Scotia.

"They also tend to be a bit more price-sensitive than other markets. And with inflation, we have seen some increases in cost across all types of of goods and services."

She said the province works with tourism businesses to create "unique travel packages" that promote Nova Scotia as a year-round destination. 

Duncan MacLean, president of TayMac Tours in Halifax, works mostly with cruise passengers who stop in Nova Scotia during a port of call.

He said part of why 2024 was a good year for his industry was the warm calm weather.  

"I believed last year the number of cruise ship stops was up maybe by about 20 or 30 stops and the ships appeared to be pretty close to full late in the season, which is really good for us," he said.

High hopes for 2025

Both Buckland and MacLean hope this year will be even better than 2024. 

MacLean said most of his clients are American and that he expects they will be incentivized to visit more often now that the Canadian dollar is weaker. 

Additionally, he hopes that without the carbon tax, gas prices will go down, encouraging people within driving distance to visit Nova Scotia. 

Moran said it is too early to predict how a trade war with the United States and U.S. President Donald Trump's annexation threats could impact tourism for the season ahead.

"Anecdotally, we have heard from some tourism businesses that their bookings from Americans are as strong this year as they were last year. But again, we're monitoring trends, we're monitoring travel intentions," she said.