Moncton's summer tourism figures grow

Tourism is growing again in Moncton even though the southeastern New Brunswick city has not announced any major outdoor concerts and lost the Atlanticade Motorcycle Festival.

Judy Dougan, the destination, sales and service coordinator with the City of Moncton, said the numbers of people visiting attractions are up by between five and 20 per cent in the region.

Moncton has become known for its outdoor summer concerts, landing high-profile acts such as the Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi and AC/DC in recent years.

While the mega concerts are a boon for Moncton, Dougan said the city's tourism numbers are given their biggest boost from multi-day events, such as the Atlantic Car Nationals or the Atlantic Seafood Festival.

"It's those kind of events that sustain the tourism industry in the summertime," Dougan said.

"It's lovely to have the big, one-night events, but they are basically one night."

She also credits a Jehovah's Witness convention, which had upwards of 5,000 people, and the nice summer weather that brought lots of people out to Magic Mountain and the Magnetic Hill Zoo.

World track event

Dougan said the city is also being seen on a national stage lately and that is helping increasing the city's profile.

The largest event of the summer is less than two weeks away. The International Association of Athletics Federations junior track championships are coming to the region from July 19 to 25. There are roughly 1,450 athletes expected at the games.

Hammond Joshi, the general manager of the Econolodge on West Main Street, saidhe isseeing an increase in visitors and not just ones who have planned out their stay in advance.

"We're seeing a definite trend towards a better summer than we did last year," Joshi said.

"The weather is certainly one of the things that helps us. We are getting more impulse traffic. We call that rubber tire traffic, which is literally people driving into your parking lot and asking for a room."

Joshi said a big concert announcement would be nice, but one big event doesn't make a summer.

He said a series of smaller events spaced out over the summer would be his preference.

Upcoming promotions

Local tourism numbers may grow in the future thanks to some upcoming promotions, according to Dougan.

"I have the Discovery Channel in town doing a feature on Magnetic Hill. They haven't done that before," she said.

"And on top of that, we've got Home and Garden television with the Food Network coming in next week to feature a local restaurant."