FREDERICTON (NB) April 13, 2023: Fredericton’s tourism industry made strong gains in 2022 on the road to recovery from the COVID pandemic that was devastating to the tourism & hospitality industry and positioning the sector to return to record growth levels in 2023.
The industry, which generated *$345 million in tourism sector revenues in 2022, recovered 95% of its revenues last year to hit pre-pandemic levels of $363 million. Stacey Russell, Manager of Fredericton Capital Region Tourism says that positions the industry well leading into 2023.
Fredericton Capital Region Tourism presented it’s 2022 industry results and its plans for 2023 at their annual spring tourism industry update today at the Fredericton Convention Centre.
“We’re transitioning from recovery back to a position of strength” says Russell. “We feel our tourism industry is ready to return to solid growth. There are still however some sectors which will need time to recover.”
The Meetings & Conventions sector, an integral contributor to our tourism & hospitality industry, will take time to recover. Projections have this sector not fully recovering nationally until 2025/2026. The Sport sector was a major influence in our recovery with an immediate return of many tournaments and events. The leisure sector also performed well in 2022.
Fredericton hotel occupancy rose steadily in 2022 with 357,000 room nights sold, an increase of 59% over 2021 and at 95% of pre-pandemic levels.
“We think the Fredericton Capital Region is in a position to return to peak tourism levels this year” says Russell. “We’re optimistic but there are still some unknowns. We don’t know if last summer’s numbers were a result of pent-up travel demand and if this will continue in 2023”.
The first quarter of 2023 has also been very strong. Fredericton has had some large-scale sporting events and our hotel occupancy rates show the capital city as one of the Maritime leaders. We’re hopeful we can continue this trajectory.
Fredericton Tourism, now Fredericton Capital Region Tourism, is responsible for marketing the entire region. “This is a strong positive for us. Collectively, we can put more experiences, festival, attractions in front of potential visitors. We are stronger as a region, and this gives us more muscle moving forward” says Russell.
*The results reported are drawn from a third-party tourism industry performance report produced by Tourism Economics, commissioned annually by Fredericton Tourism to measure the impact of the tourism industry in the Capital City.
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Contact: Stacey Russell, Manager, Fredericton Capital Region Tourism, 506-260-6958, stacey.russell@fredericton.ca