President’s Message – Growth of the Snowmobile Tourism Weekend

The NBFSC began to host a weekend each snowmobile season for tourists who may like to come to our Province and ride the NBFSC trails prepared by our 50 Clubs. We began this Tourism Weekend in 2013 and have continued to receive support from the Clubs to continue every season since.

Winter Tourism is very important to our Province. The NBFSC, the Member Clubs and their volunteer’s efforts every season have created for New Brunswick a measurable, qualified and the leading tourism sector each and every winter. We are also by far the leader of all trail tourism in the Province when compared over all four seasons. At the end of the 2015 winter tourism season, snowmobiling contributed collectively, $35.2 million. Total visitor spending for snowmobiling was $17.9 million, almost as much as all other motorized and non-motorized trails combined. Snowmobiling also sustains 160 FTEs -Jobs .

The NBFSC hosted our annual Tourism Weekend again in 2017. See the results below from the past four (4) seasons. (We did not record data in 2013). Our largest growth of visitors is now from the regions of Quebec, followed by NS/PEI, then Maine and various other Provinces and States. We had 1651 Visitors registered in 2017 for three days.

We have always had the geographical benefit of being within driving or riding distance for many visitors from PEI and Nova Scotia when they have poor winters or just want a “new” trail or weekend away. Many PEI/NS snowmobilers are NBFSC Trail Permit members thus their support of New Brunswick does not show in the table above, they have already supported us.

The growth from Quebec is an exciting trend. New Brunswick and Quebec are linked by language; we are linked by similar financial structures and most importantly linked by a passion for snowmobiling. They are realizing our snowmobiling experiences here are as good as home.

The Province (PNB), Tourism, Heritage & Culture are preparing to release a new Tourism Growth Strategy (TGS) that we are very supportive of. We do not know all of the intricate details yet, however know that winter tourism will be a focus in the TGS. This is an easy decision for the PNB as by their own numbers, snowmobiling returns (ROI) are 71%. At the end of 2015, the PNB investment was $1.1 million and snowmobiling generated $0.8 million in Provincial Tax revenue from the direct activity. Again, we are the leader every winter and in every trail sector in New Brunswick.

For 2018 the NBFSC- Clubs will host snowmobile visitors the weekend of February 16^th, 17^th and 18^th 2018. Upon registering as a non-resident of New Brunswick you will have access to a free three-day NBFSC Trail Permit (printable from the website) specifically for the annual Tourism Weekend only.