Erroneous information about New Brunswick included in tourism pitches to Europeans
CBC
A number of European tour operators that government tourism officials met with in London and Paris last year to discuss promoting New Brunswick routinely mix up basic facts about the province in their ads and have been suggesting visits to defunct or shuttered attractions.
"Spend time in Saint John, the provincial capital," suggests one ad currently being run by British-based Prestige Holidays.
"Relax before your flight to Saint John, New Brunswick's largest city," proposes another advertisement from U.K tour operator Wexas.
Saint John is neither New Brunswick's largest city, nor its capital. Those titles belong to Moncton and Fredericton, respectively.
Prestige and Wexas are two of the private tour operators New Brunswick Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace said she met and signed contracts with last September during a trip to London and Paris by her, her deputy minister Yennah Hurley and two other department officials.
During a legislative committee session last week, Scott-Wallace said her department works in close "partnership" with the companies and it was important to meet directly with them.
Some of the tour operators "had interests in the province they wanted to discuss." and all, she said, signed contracts of some kind with New Brunswick for the upcoming year.
"I sat at the table with tour operator companies," said the minister.
"These were face-to-face meetings with these businesses — senior executives, owners of these companies."
Despite those direct meetings and contractual ties with the province several of the tour operators appear to be in the dark about basic New Brunswick facts, locations and attractions.
"New Brunswick's capital is steeped in history," Wexas writes in one blurb that then suggests visitors to the capital take in the historic Martello Tower and the New Brunswick Museum. Both sites are in Saint John, not Fredericton.
Little harm will follow, however, since neither Saint John attraction is open.
Martello Tower has been closed to the public for the last eight years and is currently shrouded in construction materials and scaffolding. The museum shut its doors in 2022 and its collections are currently in storage.
A proposed new museum building will not be open until at least 2026.
