New Brunswick launches new site to boost tourism
In order to stay competitive in the growing online tourism industry, New Brunswick has unveiled a customer care and management Web site to help draw visitors – and their money – to the province.
“Tourism is a worldwide business that’s changing everyday,” said Bill Thompson, the deputy minister of New Brunswick’s Department of Tourism and Parks. “We as a province are a player…and we have to be able to compete and sustain our industry.”
In an effort to compete, the province enlisted the help of Microsoft Canada Co. and T4G Ltd., a full service technology consulting company. The result is a Web site that allows all of New Brunswick’s registered tourism operators to post descriptions of their products and services online and offer them to tourists.
With 56 per cent of travellers using the Internet as a source of information, a 15 per cent growth in the online tourism industry each month and $6 billion in annual online travel booking up for grabs, New Brunswick wants to make sure they are seen on the world stage.
“Tourism is our third or fourth largest industry,” Thompson said. “If we’re not competitive, we can lose a very key element of our economy.”
Approximately two million people visit New Brunswick each year and spend about $1.2 billion. An estimated 33,000 people in the province are employed in the tourism industry.
The New Brunswick tourism site is at: www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca.