‘You feel blessed to live here’: Cape Breton reacts to Trump win

The CEO of a Cape Breton Island tourism organisation is exhausted following the U.S. election results.

Mary Tulle has been fielding interview requests from international news organizations since midnight Wednesday — all of them wondering if Americans are looking to move to Cape Breton after Donald Trump won the presidency.

“We’ve had media from Australia to Vancouver, one from China, the New York Times as well, so yes it’s a big story,” Tulle said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've had media from Australia to Vancouver, one from China, the New York Times as well, so yes it's a big story," Tulle said.

Tulle leads “Destination Cape Breton” an organization that joined forces with another tourism website called: “Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins.”

READ MORE: What President Donald Trump will mean for Canada

The site was created by Sydney, Cape Breton radio announcer, Rob Calabrese back in early spring.

It quickly picked up mass amounts of media attention and visits to its domain began to explode.

READ MORE: Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration website crashes as Trump leads in election results

That’s when “Destination Cape Breton” came into the picture and a new site was created under the same premise called: “Welcome to Cape Breton”.

“Our organization got involved based on inquires coming through in regards to work, school and housing opportunities,” Tulle said.

Since its inception, the website has seen a dramatic increase in traffic.

“There was 55,000 site visits from March 28 – Nov 8 and 15,000 visits since election day,” Tulle said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There was 55,000 site visits from March 28 - Nov 8 and 15,000 visits since election day," Tulle said.

She adds there’s an emotional strain involved in fielding hundreds of emails from people who are legitimately scared over the results.

“When you wake up and you have emails from individuals who are genuinely afraid and are asking how to  relocate to Cape Breton island it makes you feel blessed to live here,” Tulle said.

READ MORE: Results of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

Despite the surge in immigration queries, Halifax immigration lawyer, Liz Wozniak says, the process isn’t as a simple as some may think.

“Immigration in Canada is based on family or work so if you have a job offer here, or if you have a close family member like a spouse or a parent, they can bring you here as a sponsor, but generally speaking I think it’s a lot tougher than a lot of Americans believe,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Immigration in Canada is based on family or work so if you have a job offer here, or if you have a close family member like a spouse or a parent, they can bring you here as a sponsor, but generally speaking I think it's a lot tougher than a lot of Americans believe," she said.

Wozniak says it’s easy for Americans to visit, however and based on the surge of interest, perhaps all of our Maritime hospitality will be put to good use when our southern neighbours head to the province for a vacation.