Published by Saltwire media:
New website helps travellers and locals explore central Nova Scotia
Richard MacKenzie
Saltwire Media
TRURO, N.S. —
Groups coming together to maximize tourism opportunities in the region have a new tool in the toolbox through the website, Explore Central (explorecentral.ns).
“A landing site for anyone looking for information about what to see and do in our area,” explained Truro and Colchester Chamber of Commerce executive director Sherry Martell.
The chamber spearheaded the project in partnership with the Downtown Truro Partnership, the towns of Truro and Stewiacke, the Municipality of Colchester County and the Millbrook First Nation Heritage and Cultural Centre.
“We’ve included items from all over the Truro-Colchester region as well as those on the periphery,” Martell said. “When you’re talking about tourism, you can’t see boundaries. For instance, Ski Wentworth is in Cumberland County, but it’s important we promote that as a tourism driver here. Jost Vineyards is in Cumberland County, it’s a tourism driver. There are other places, such as Burntcoat Head Park, which is in East Hants. We have to promote those as reasons people may come to Truro and Colchester.”
Martell said it’s important to take advantage of one of Truro’s biggest advantages as a central location to the many attractions the province offers.
“People can stay here, as a home base per se,” she said. “If they were planning to stay a few days, within an hour or two-hour drive there is a multitude of activities they can take in. And it’s wide ranging.”
Martell said there are many opportunities for adventure, for outdoor enthusiasts and family activities.
“We have a wide range of things people can see and do. Particularly during the pandemic time, people want to be outside, they want to be in nature and spend time with their families, enjoying all of that in a very comfortable way.”
She said the pandemic actually played a role in funding the new website.
“In the early months of the pandemic, Tourism Nova Scotia put out a call for applications to tap into a program for regional tourism marketing. It was a one-time program being funded through funds diverted from Destination Canada’s International Travel attraction program,” she said.
“They took dollars they would have been using for international campaigns, trying to attract those travelers, and spread it among the provinces, who then reached out to the regional destination marketing organizations or other business organizations, which were supporting tourism, to assist with tourism in a really bad year.”
Martell said with this area having no formalized regional destination marketing organization, the chamber – as a business organization – asked its partners and other stakeholders to come together to apply for some of the funds to assist the local tourism sector.
“Within Truro and Colchester, we know, pre-COVID, there were more than 2,500 jobs directly tied to the tourism sector. And then there were thousands of jobs indirectly related to tourism. Tourism itself is a huge economic driver for this region and our chamber has always been a major player in trying to promote the region to tourists.”