PE: Tourism council predict strong 2009

[CHARLOTTETOWN, PE] - P.E.I. tourism is off to a strong start and it’s expected to get stronger as the season progresses. At least that’s how Kevin Murphy, chair for the Tourism Advisory Council of P.E.I., sees it.

Kevin Murphy, left, chair of the Tourism Advisory Council of P.E.I., talks with Rotarian Dale Turner during a Rotary luncheon Monday. Murphy focused on Island tourism and how the industry is continuing to grow across the province. Guardian photo.

Murphy spoke on the tourism industry during Monday’s Rotary meeting in Charlottetown and while he touched on a number of topics, his focus was that P.E.I., unlike many other provinces, is looking forward to a strong summer tourism season. “It started early this year and it’s going to be, as I can see it, a very good year,” he said. “We’ve kind of weathered the storm in what’s going on around the world in economics. The last year has been tough but we’ve kind of slipped through it. We don’t get the big ups and downs like other provinces but we’ve slipped through it.”

He attributed this to the numerous events planned for the Island this summer, including the Festival of Lights concert, the Cavendish country concert and the Canada Games. “The Canada Games just sort of fell on us this year,” he said. “We knew we were off to a great season before we even started.”

But while much of his speech was positive, Murphy explained that a lot can still be done, especially with a focus on catering to the needs of people visiting for meetings and conventions. He said the tourism industry is now looking to the future to expand on these and many other areas, including the culinary experience P.E.I. has to offer.

“We’ve always got to be ahead of the game,” he said. “Looking at 2010, that’s what we’re thinking now. What do people want? We can’t build on something we don’t have, we have to build on what we do have and one of those things is culinary.”

Murphy said he hopes to grow tourism to a $500-million industry by 2012.