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Tourism minister to visit sites province wants New Brunswickers to visit
With Friday’s launch of the Atlantic bubble and tourism season officially underway, New Brunswick Tourism Minister Bruce Fitch is making his own travel plans.Tourism Minister Bruce Fitch said once July hits, people are typically ready to ‘get out and explore,’ and he hopes New Brunswickers will choose to do so in their own province. (CBC)With…
With Friday's launch of the Atlantic bubble and tourism season officially underway, New Brunswick Tourism Minister Bruce Fitch is making his own travel plans.
With Friday's launch of the Atlantic bubble and tourism season officially underway, New Brunswick Tourism Minister Bruce Fitch is making his own travel plans.
He intends to visit as many of the province's attractions as possible that the government hopes will entice New Brunswickers to “staycation” this summer, he said.
“Just to encourage people to get out and explore their province.”
Fitch took a trip to Mount Carleton on Thursday.
He said provincial parks and other “venues” are on his list.
An itinerary was not immediately available from the Department of Tourism.
Nor was an estimated cost.
Fitch said he thinks the Atlantic bubble decision, allowing travellers from within the four provinces to cross borders without having to self-isolate for 14 days, was a good one.
“I know there was a significant amount of people looking for that.”
But he also expects to see some people deciding to stay closer to home.
“That's the sense that I'm getting in the discussions that I'm having with the department and some of the tourist visitors,” he said.
“I think there's a little bit of reluctance [to travel outside the province] because of COVID and that uncertainty, but I would also like to hope our marketing campaign has instilled a desire for New Brunswickers to explore their own province.”
‘Significant' campaign
In May, the province launched the “Hope Restored” campaign, which Fitch said aimed to reassure New Brunswickers that there's a “light at the end of the tunnel” and to persuade them to vacation at home this summer.
The name of the campaign is a translation of the province's motto, Spem Reduxit, which is part of the provincial coat of arms.
Fitch described the campaign as “significant.”
“I think some of these results will show,” he said.
And “now there's a bigger market, with the population from all four Atlantic provinces” available to explore New Brunswick.
Department officials could not immediately say whether the province has advertised elsewhere in Canada yet or whether it plans to.
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