Tourism indicators are showing a strong start to the year with air passenger traffic up 28% and non-resident bridge traffic up 5% for the first quarter. The trend is continuing with bridge traffic up over 12% and air traffic up 31% for the month of April in comparison to 2005.

Accommodation occupancy is also telling a positive story with an additional 4,600 room-nights sold already this year in comparison to 2005. “The first quarter indicators for 2006 are encouraging for the tourism industry and we’re looking forward to the trend continuing for the rest of the year,” noted Honourable Philip Brown, Minister of Tourism. “We had early success in 2006 with a number of well-attended events and the coming months will provide even more incentive for visitors to come to Prince Edward Island to relax and refresh themselves with an Island vacation.”

The provincial tourism website continues to attract more and more visitors boasting a large increase in website sessions for the first quarter. “With the launch of the newly re-designed website, www.gentleisland.com, we should continue to see increased web activity in the months ahead. The marketing campaign this year is focused on driving visitors to the website, which has proven to be a highly effective way to convert potential consumers into P.E.I. visitors,” noted David MacKenzie, Co-Chair of the Tourism Advisory Council.

Tourism performance indicators are released to the public monthly and can be downloaded at www.gov.pe.ca/tourism.