Creator of 'Cape Breton if Trump Wins' hosts election night party
In the last days of the campaign, hits jump on two Cape Breton-centric websites
The man who created the Cape Breton If Trump Wins website is marking the culmination of his tongue-in-cheek campaign by hosting a U.S. election night party.
Rob Calabrese is inviting people interested in viewing the the U.S. presidential returns to join in at Breton Brewing in Sydney, N.S.
Cape Bretoner Rory Andrews can vote <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USElection2016?src=hash">#USElection2016</a> but didn't. says that's not what the absentee ballot is for. He is staying here. <a href="https://t.co/KUtsuLkoW0">pic.twitter.com/KUtsuLkoW0</a>
—@leblancsmithQuizmaster Jon Patterson asks the tough questions <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/triviatuesday?src=hash">#triviatuesday</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/bretonbrewing">@bretonbrewing</a> to support Lifeline Syria <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USElection2016?src=hash">#USElection2016</a> <a href="https://t.co/B5oLs4n3KM">pic.twitter.com/B5oLs4n3KM</a>
—@leblancsmithThe American television network, ABC, will broadcast a segment from the party during its election night coverage, Calabrese said.
The website started out as a fun project, but unexpectedly has taken up a lot of his time this year. Calabrese, a Sydney radio DJ, admits he's hoping to be not so busy after the election.
Surge in interest
In fact, online interest in the island from the United States has started to climb again as voting day has drawn closer for Americans.
Calabrese has seen a steady increase in views to his website since last month.
"Ever since the James Comey FBI announcement about having emails for Hillary Clinton, which saw Donald Trump start to surge in the polls, traffic has been increasing exponentially," Calabrese said.
The hits keep coming
The site had 10,000 hits on Monday, compared to 1,000 just a week earlier, although it's still a far cry from the 250,000 hits the site received in the days after it was first posted in February.
Destination Cape Breton CEO Mary Tulle says the attention Calabrese's website received in its early days also gave a boost to visits to capebretonisland.com, which has enjoyed another resurgence in recent weeks.
"Normally, this time of year things start to slow down significantly," said CEO Mary Tulle, "and I was curious as we were getting closer to the American election whether there's still a lot of movement in our website."
Big numbers
A look at the figures for late October and early November show a huge increase in activity from certain states compared to the same period last year, Tulle says.
For example, there's been an increase in interest of 736% from Indiana, 200% from North Carolina, 191% from California, and 139% from Florida.
"I think what's important for us to understand is this isn't a typical time of year for people to be looking for their vacation destination," Tulle said.
Rise in Google searches
A look at Google statistics on what Americans are searching for also shows an uptick in interest in Cape Breton in recent weeks.
Americans were increasingly searching for "Cape Breton Trump" as the campaign entered its final days, with the highest number of searches coming from people in New Hampshire.
Measurable tourism increase
The so-called "Trump Bump" phenomenon has been born out by actual visits to the island this tourism season.
Tourism Nova Scotia data indicate that room nights sold in Cape Breton in September were up 15% over 2015.
Room nights sold for the whole year-to-date were up 13% in Cape Breton, compared to 4% for Nova Scotia as a whole.