As warmer weather brings out T-shirts, insects, and tourists, Fredericton businesses are beginning to prepare for the summer season.
“In speaking with our hotels, we are cautiously optimistic, but things are looking quite good as we head into the tourism season this year,” said Stacey Russell, the manager of Fredericton Capital Region Tourism.
Russell said she expects the city to be busy.
Officers’ Square will reopen for programing in July — there are six back-to-back weekends of baseball tournaments as part of the Bubba Mac Summer Classics, and Mactaquac Provincial Park will be hosting a golf tournament as part of the PGA Tour Americas, a tour spanning North and South America.
Ryan Kelly owns Mangata Mactaquac, which offers five cabins for rent and is minutes from the park. He said one of the tournament’s golfers has already booked a stay with his business, and he’s expecting more.
“It’ll bring a lot of people in, for sure. Mactaquac is kind of a busy spot in the summer anyway, so it’s going to be really good for the area,” he said.
For many in the hospitality sector, Russell said 2024 has already been busy.
“We’re already seeing room sales and occupancy were hitting highs within the Maritimes, and April was one heck of a great start,” she said.
She says thousands came to downtown Fredericton for the April 8 eclipse, and hotels have reported a full spring conference season.
“We’re feeling very positive about the tourism season this summer,” said Sara Holyoke, general manager of Delta Hotels by Marriott Fredericton.
She said it’s “night and day” compared to business during COVID-19.
Tourism in the province’s capital has recently exceeded pre-pandemic numbers. For example, in 2023 more than 385,000 hotel rooms sold in Fredericton — an 8.1 per cent increase from the previous year.
But some factors are out of human hands.
“I think it all comes down to weather. I think last year would have been a pretty good summer, but we had a pretty tough-weather summer,” Holyoke said.
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