Halifax Segway Tours Sidelined By Covid-19
HALIFAX – By mid-July of 2019, Max Rastelli was operating three or four Segway tours a day. But in the first two weeks of July this year, he has only done three tours in total.
With cruise ships not coming into the harbour, and no tourists arriving from outside Atlantic Canada, it’s been a difficult summer for tourism operators like Rastelli. But the owner and operator of Segway Nova Scotia is optimistic things will turn around.
“Every week you see more and more people,” says Rastelli. “The crowds are building on the waterfront. It’s starting to look more normal, so that’s encouraging.”
“People are going to want to find things to do in all of this. With the location we have on the Halifax waterfront and a great partner in Develop Nova Scotia and seeing the crowds return to the waterfront, that’s where the optimism is coming from.”
Rastelli opened his Segway business in Halifax in 2012. Since then, seeing tours of people traversing the Halifax Waterfront on these personal transporters have been a mainstay during the summer. Rastelli says riding a Segway is an amazing experience and, after some practice, it feels like the machine can “read your mind.”
“You’re smiling…it’s amazing what it feels like,” he explains. “This thing is balancing me and balancing for me. It sounds corny but it’s almost like it becomes a part of you or an extension of you.”
“It’s hard to explain or describe until you actually get on one and you feel what it does and how it works. “It’s unlike anything you’ve probably ever experienced or have tried to ride.”
Segway Nova Scotia’s season usually spans from May 1 to October 31. But Covid-19 shaved May and June off completely for the company. Instead, Rastelli only opened in early July. He usually hires five or six guides each season, but this year plans on only using two. And, with no cruise ships allowed in Canada this year, Rastelli plans on ending the season at the end of September.
“Even though we had a tour here and a tour there in June, the guides haven’t been hired until right about now. So, in the first week of July was when we opened our door,” said Rastelli.
“We’re certainly not going to see a typical (tourism season), not even close.”
A few weeks ago, the whole Segway business was dealt an additional blow. Ninebot, the parent company of Segway, announced it was shutting down production of the Personal Transporter.
For Rastelli, that means he can no longer sell the machines. But sales were a minor part of his business compared to the tours. Rastelli is confident he was enough transporters in stock to keep doing tours for years to come.
“That was a bit of a shock to the dealer network and tour operators and many customers,” said Rastelli. It was an unexpected shot. That effectively shut down the distributor part of our business.”
“It’s not a huge impact for me because the Segway tours really are the bulk of our business.”
Segway Nova Scotia has also been cushioned by the success of its new sister company, HFX e-Scooters. Even during the early days of the pandemic, a lot of people were interested in renting electric scooters on the street, using an app, and going for a ride around Halifax.
“Covid had zero impact on scooter rentals,” said Rastelli. “If anything, Covid helped, which was unexpected.”
Rastelli theorizes that people were getting cabin fever in April and May and renting a scooter was a fun activity to do while maintaining social distancing. So far, scooter rentals have remained popular during the summer.
Rastelli remains confident in his business and the tourism industry, despite the myriad of setbacks in 2020. He is looking forward to next year when, presumably, more people will be wanting to travel to celebrate the end of social distancing.
“Boy, we better be ready for a big year next year,” he says confidently. “I’m super optimistic about 2021.”