Nova Star ferry Cruises numbers up 65% in August over July
Nova Star Cruises credits better marketing, lower fares and warmer weather for increase
STM Quest, the American company running the ferry between Yarmouth and Maine, says it's meeting its passenger targets for August.
With a few days left in the month. Nova Star Cruises says it sold 20,206 tickets in August, as of Thursday. The company says it averaged 652 passengers a day this month.
Though the Nova Star ferry is built to accommodate 1,215 passengers, the company says its goal is to have between 500 and 700 passengers per day, on average, during its peak season.
About 65 per cent more people travelled on the ferry in August than the 13,043 passengers who took the ferry in July.
Nova Star attributes the jump to better marketing, lower fares and warmer weather.
"Nova Star’s August passenger numbers provide confidence that there is a growing market in the U.S. and Canada for the ferry service and that awareness of the ferry services is beginning to be re-established after an almost five-year hiatus of service," said Mark Amundsen, president and CEO of Nova Star Cruises.
The company said its recent partnership with Atlantic Tours and North American Traveller to offer packages that including sightseeing tours across Nova Scotia and New England, including trips to see The Lion King on stage in Boston.
The Nova Scotia government committed $21 million over seven years to the ferry operation. The final instalment of which was paid last month.