Tourists flock to the Cabot Trail, but climate change is making it more costly to welcome them

With its stunning ocean views, Cape Breton's Cabot Trail is a destination for tens of thousands of visitors every year. 

But in recent years, major weather events exacerbated by climate change have significantly damaged popular vacation spots, driving up the cost of doing business and requiring tourism operators to plan ahead for worst-case scenarios.

Kathy Graham-MacKinnon, manager of the Glenghorm Beach Resort on the Cabot Trail, has been working in tourism in northern Cape Breton for more than 20 years. She said it's clear the climate is changing. 

"We get much hotter summers and we get more storms. We get heavier rain — rain that I've never seen that heavy here at all — we get a lot of wind with the storms," said Graham-MacKinnon. 

The Ingonish resort has had to invest in heat pumps to keep guests cool because other air conditioners can't keep up during heat waves. Last summer, heavy rains led to flooding in the resort's pub on multiple occasions.

Even three years after post-tropical storm Fiona made landfall in Nova Scotia, Graham-MacKinnon said the resort is still picking up the pieces.

Fuelled in part by warmer-than-usual ocean temperatures, Fiona's punishing winds and storm surge took out the resort's seawall, two cottages and multiple outbuildings, but insurance only paid out around $89,000. With loss of income factored in, Fiona cost the resort around $500,000.

"Insurance didn't cover what we hoped it would cover and government funding has been unfortunately nonexistent," said Graham-MacKinnon. "We got a minimal amount that would not even replace one small cottage.

"As far as the infrastructure goes, they don't cover outbuildings, they don't cover swing sets, they don't cover gazebos or ... the wall or the stairs down to the beach and that all adds up. So you're constantly trying to play catch-up."

Graham-MacKinnon said the resort's owner pursued $2,500 in assistance from the province, but that has been delayed by complications with insurance.

A spokesperson for the province's Department of Emergency Management couldn't speak to Glenghorm's specific case. However, they said 515 small businesses have received grants and just a handful remain unresolved.

The Cabot Trail is no stranger to damaging weather.  

Parts of the trail running through Cape Breton Highlands National Park were swept away by historic flooding in 2021. The water not only damaged the road and several trails in the park, but also washed away a recently reconstructed and redesigned retaining wall. The park suffered more damage when Fiona tore through on Sept. 24, 2022.

In the immediate aftermath of that storm, the park's field unit worked to stabilize and rebuild damaged bridges, culverts, roads, trails and buildings. 

Duggan Kennedy, the unit's project manager, said the team also looked ahead to future storms and how best to protect the park's assets.

"Some of that involved design and construction of buildings and roads and trails and bridges that were in need of repair or that needed mitigation for climate change in the future," he said.

In June 2023, the federal government announced $43 million in funding for the Cape Breton field unit, which includes projects and repairs at Parks Canada sites across the island. 

Some of that will go to upgrading campgrounds and making them more resilient. For example, canvas-topped cabins for rent at Ingonish Beach will eventually be swapped out with actual cabins after some of the structures were damaged during storms.

In Ingonish, the Glenghorm Beach Resort has had to rebuild farther from the water in order to protect its infrastructure from storm surges.

A barrier, however, is out of the question, said Graham-MacKinnon. Anything large enough to keep out a storm surge would be prohibitively expensive and block the view that visitors come for.

Graham-MacKinnon said more needs to be done to support small businesses being impacted by climate change.

"You always get the politicians on television saying, 'We're there with you, we're going to help you, going to help you rebuild.' But nothing, nothing happens," she said.

"Everybody's just passing the buck."