Stakeholders Optimistic About Tourism Season in Downtown Moncton
MONCTON — There’s optimism from industry experts and downtown Moncton businesses about New Brunswick’s upcoming tourism season, despite some less-than-optimistic national forecasts.
According to figures released in March by Statistics Canada, New Brunswick tourism was twice below the national average compared to 2019, and three times behind Nova Scotia, making it the worst in Atlantic Canada.
But despite the less-than-stellar numbers, tourism industry experts and businesses are hopeful.
Kate Robart, the sales and marketing manager at Happy Craft Brewing, said staff at the downtown Moncton microbrewery are excited for this year’s tourism season as the company approaches its two-year anniversary in July.
“Two years after Covid and two years now into the business, things are starting to pick up for us. And with the insane growth of Moncton in the past few years, we’re really seeing it already in April picking up like crazy,” she said in an interview with Huddle.
Robart said the demand from customers meant installing two new brewing tanks to keep up.
Happy Craft Brewing’s customers are mostly from around the Moncton area but she expects to change as the summer progresses, as the brewery relies on tourists to keep them afloat.
Since the business only opened in 2021 and is still relatively new to the downtown, Robart said it’s hard to compare last year’s tourism season to anything. But working as a bartender last season showed her the strong potential of tourism traffic.
She attributes the success of last year to the microbrewery’s “ideal” downtown location.
“It was crazy,” she said. “There’s seems to be so many tourists coming to Moncton these past few years, so we were very busy.”
Robart said, however, that the busy season sometimes means staff have trouble keeping up with traffic and can’t get around to selling products like beer kegs. But she said it’s a great problem to have.
“We don’t want to complain about business but it does cause us to rethink our strategy. Someday, we might need to think about expanding this place or redoing layouts or whatever works to make more seating and more availability,” she said.
New Brunswick’s Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture has increased its budget to more than $75 million to help draw in more tourists as the province tries to return to pre-pandemic tourism levels.
Andrew McNair, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick, said his organization feels “very optimistic” as the region returns to pre-pandemic levels.
“We are certainly seeing things continue to go in the right direction as we come into the busy season and operators are getting ready for what’s anticipated to be a big year given the last few years,” he said in a phone interview this week.
Two brand-new festivals were also announced for the downtown this summer and stakeholders with Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc. (DMCI) believe both the buskers and street painting festivals “will add life to the streets of the downtown.”
“We are thrilled to see these new festivals added to the already impressive list of summer offerings in the City of Moncton,” said Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold in an April 12 press release from DMCI.
“Showcasing two interactive art forms – busking and chalk art – will bring such an energy to our downtown and provide visitors and residents alike with one more reason to get out and enjoy the summer weather and all Downtown Moncton has to offer.”
But it leads to the question of whether the city is doing enough to attract tourists so businesses like Happy Craft Brewing can survive. Robart said while she thinks the new festivals are wonderful, she would like to see more, such as brewery tours.
“I think it would be a hit with tourists, but even some locals would maybe enjoy it,” she said.
“There are just so many breweries like us popping up in Moncton, so to have something that’s organized for tourists and locals to be able to do, I think, would really add to Moncton tourism into the downtown scene and beyond.”
Aaron Sousa is a Huddle contributor covering Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected]
With files from Brad Perry.