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The operator of the ferry service between Nova Scotia and Maine says bookings for the new season are up about 30 per cent over last year with renewed interest from Americans looking to travel to Canada.
Bay Ferries Ltd., which operates The Cat ferry between Yarmouth, N.S., and Bar Harbor, Maine, says it has almost 17,800 reservations for the sailing season that begins today.
That’s about 5,000 more bookings than the service had this time last year, and about 85 per cent of tickets are going to U.S. visitors.
The ferry link traces its roots back to the 1880s but service has been rocky in recent years. Issues with funding, operators and ports have scuttled several sailing seasons, as did the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critics say the provincial subsidy of about $21 million a year isn’t worth the cost, but tourism operators in the relatively isolated Yarmouth area see it as an economic lifeline.
“Nova Scotia needs every possible option available to bring visitors to our province and we need predictability and stability of the transportation network,” Darlene Grant Fiander, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia, said in a statement.
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