Business booming along Cabot Trail ahead of tourist season

Tourism operators along Cape Breton's Cabot Trail are already cashing in ahead of peak tourist season.

The Highland Village in Iona, N.S., only opened on June 15 for the season, but say they've already seen a steady stream of visitors through their doors.

“Right now, we're seeing mostly school children, but the off the road traffic has been very encouraging as well. I would say it's very close to our usual June traffic,” said Highland Village Director Rodney Chaisson.

 The return of cruise ships also means big business for the village. The first big boat in more than two years arrived in Sydney, N.S., last month.

“Oh, for us that's big. 38 per cent of our visitation in 2019 was cruise coming through the port of Sydney, so that's significant,” said Chaisson.

The high cost of gas hasn't slowed traffic from crossing the Canso Causeway either.

Currently, it’s hard to find vacancies at several spots along the Cabot Trail in the months of July and August.

“Booked right up, July and August we have a waiting list. There might be a couple spots left for June, but they'll be gone soon,” said Archer’s Edge Luxury Camping owner Scott Archer.

The demand is so high, rental cars are also hard to come by across the province, which is causing some problems.

“We are hearing some challenges, like car rental shortages and labour shortages with many operators, so it is still going to be a challenge, but early indications are that cash registers are going to be ringing,” said Destination Cape Breton CEO Terry Smith.

Smith says there is pent-up demand after two years with travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also says they're seeing a lot of interest on the Destination Cape Breton website from people living in Ontario and Quebec.

“Traffic from Ontario is well up even over pre-pandemic levels. Traffic from Quebec is right there and regional visitation looks strong for this year.”