Parlee Beach numbers down again
Business operators says beach's reputation hurt by water-quality problems
The number of people who paid to park at Parlee Beach declined by 35 per cent compared to two years ago, suggesting visitors to the province's marquee tourist attraction dropped for a second year.
There were 15,287 daily vehicle permits sold over the 2018 season, according to figures released Friday afternoon by the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. That's down from 17,110 in 2017 and 23,569 in 2016.
The permits are bought by visitors entering the provincial park east of Shediac, where water-quality problems have thrown the beach into the news in recent years.
Ron Cormier, president of the Greater Shediac Chamber of Commerce, said Friday that the visitor numbers were a surprise given the hot weather over the summer.
"Parlee Beach is one of New Brunswick's most popular attractions — or has been for quite some time," Cormier said. "It's alarming when you see those numbers go down because of the fact that it's quite a bit of an economic driver for the Shediac region."
But, he said, "negative propaganda" about Parlee Beach has reduced confidence in the water quality.
The province issued no-swimming advisories on 11 days between May and the end of August because water samples showed elevated bacteria levels.
Three more no-swimming advisories were issued in September because of test results, including on Friday, when the visitor figures were released.
The Tourism Department did not respond Friday to a request for an interview. John Ames, the tourism minister for more than two years, lost his seat in Monday's election.
A CBC News investigation in 2016 found the province had failed to use Canadian water guidelines, allowing the beach to remain open for swimming on days when it would otherwise have been closed because of fecal bacteria levels.
The Liberal government implemented new water-monitoring protocols and funded a series of studies and established a steering committee to examine potential sources of the fecal contamination.
The results, released in April after 18 months of work, did not definitively determine a source and called for further study.
The committee found no evidence of a "chronic" problem with the water quality, which it described as "suitable for swimming."
