Parlee Beach numbers down again

The number of people who paidto park at Parlee Beach declined by 35 per cent compared to two years ago, suggesting visitors to the province's marquee tourist attraction dropped for a second year.

There were 15,287 daily vehicle permitssoldover the 2018 season, according to figures releasedFriday afternoon by the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.That's down from17,110 in 2017 and 23,569 in 2016.

The permits are bought by visitorsentering the provincial park east ofShediac, where water-quality problems have thrown the beach into the news in recent years.

RonCormier, president of the GreaterShediacChamber of Commerce, said Friday that the visitor numbers were a surprisegiven the hot weather over the summer.

"ParleeBeach is one of New Brunswick's most popular attractions or has been for quite some time,"Cormiersaid. "It's alarming when you see those numbers go down because of the fact that it's quite a bit of an economic driver for theShediacregion."

But, he said, "negative propaganda" about ParleeBeach has reduced confidence in the water quality.

The province issued no-swimming advisories on 11days between May and the end of August because water samples showed elevated bacteria levels.

Three more no-swimming advisories were issued in September because of test results, including on Friday, when the visitor figures were released.

The Tourism Department did not respond Friday to a request for an interview. John Ames, the tourism minister for more than two years, lost his seatin Monday's election.

ACBCNews investigationin 2016 found the province had failed to use Canadian water guidelines, allowing the beachto remain open for swimming on days when it would otherwise have been closed because offecal bacteria levels.

The Liberal government implementednew water-monitoring protocols and funded a series of studies and established a steering committee to examine potential sources of thefecal contamination.

• Parlee Beach water study can't nail down cause of fecal contamination

The results, released in April after 18 months of work, did not definitively determine a sourceand called for further study.

The committee foundno evidence of a "chronic" problem with the water quality, which it described as "suitable for swimming."