Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

For more than six years, CMS has been representing and promoting well-known Nova Scotian companies throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland, specialising in the field of holiday accommodation. We take part every year in the most important tourism exhibitions in Europe. Having observed the presence of Nova Scotia in the European tourism branch for a number of years, we have reached the following conclusions. We would ask you to take a little time to share our thoughts and ideas which we have set out below.

Current awareness of Nova Scotia in Europe
Sadly, we have seen over the last few years that even at tourism exhibitions with more than 400,000 visitors, Nova Scotia has been poorly represented. Occasionally, the well-known Canadian tourist organisations are there, but if Canada is represented at one of these exhibitions, Nova Scotia is lost under the general heading of “Eastern Canada” and the Western Provinces are presented in great detail and are very highly praised.

Attempts of individual enterprises from Nova Scotia
Some firms try to offer their own projects at the exhibitions. Having consulted many of these individual exhibitors, we have encountered two considerable problems.  Firstly, the exhibition and advertising expenses are not feasible on a long-term basis for the individual firm. Secondly, the visitor to the exhibition collects advertising material from many stands to be able to make a choice and the expensive brochures disappear in their pocket without making the desired impact. Another problem is that there is too much information available which is not easily evaluated. The visitor is given a catalogue containing over 1,000 offers of various qualities without receiving any indication or explanation of the contents. This type of material has a negative effect on the development of tourism.

Other advertising methods
The positioning of the advertising is another important point. Tourist information centres are undoubtedly excellent, but the information they provide reaches the visitor too late. More than 90% of European visitors have already planned their holiday in detail when they arrive at Halifax Airport. That means, their accommodation, car hire or mobile home and recreation activities have already been booked. Whoever tries to make an offer to a visitor at the airport or a tourist information centre has no chance of success. Added to this is the disappointment of the visitor who was unable to obtain adequate information before his holiday and is unlikely to return as a satisfied customer. In every country in the world where tourism plays a large part in the economy, satisfied customers who return are essential.

The right way to go about it
In this day and age, it is not enough to advertise only on the Internet or only with a brochure. A balanced combination is decisive. During our years at exhibitions, we have been able to see that many prospective customers would like an informative catalogue, while others are only interested in a website - So, we must think of a way to satisfy both types of customers.

The future of tourism in Nova Scotia
As a result of our experience over the past years and because we are convinced that there is a future for tourism in Nova Scotia, we have founded NSTS, the Nova Scotia Tourism Society. In the attached brochure, we would like to put forward our ideas how the tourist industry in Nova Scotia could be improved and marketed.

Only with your help and that of your enterprise, will the NSTS Project succeed.
We are counting on your help and ask you to support NSTS actively.

If you have any questions or comments, we would be glad to hear from you any time at our email-address.