Significant events across the Saint John region have benefited the hotel industry.
A report by Smith Travel Research outlines that Saint John’s Occupancy Rate for June 2022 was 71.3 per cent, which is a 160.2 per cent increase over June 2021.
Paulette Hicks, CEO of Envision Saint John: The Regional Growth Agency mentioned June was the second consecutive month with an occupancy rate outpacing pre-pandemic levels from 2019.
“We’re moving in the right direction, we had significant events, such as the Memorial Cup tournament, and other things that have happened in the market at the same time, including the Acadian Games, so we are seeing that this is not by luck, this is actually by working on major events, and attracting them to our region.”
Hicks mentioned that Envision Saint John is also anticipating a strong summer.
“We are positioned for a strong summer with several events the region is playing host to, so we got Sculpture Saint John, Moonlight Bazaar, the Fundy Sea Shanty happening in St. Martins, Area 506, and of course we’ve had the Acadian Games that will impact our July results as well.”
Hicks added that Envision Saint John has continued with its leisure campaigns, and is back in markets such as Ontario.
“It’s a very strong market for us, we have made major investments into that market to not only draw visitors from Atlantic Canada and the Maritimes, but also we’re now back into Ontario, which we know we had great success during pre-pandemic levels, so we are feeling really good about the summer.”
