Tourist numbers up in N.S., more visiting from United States

The Nova Scotia government says visitation to the province is up for the first half of this year.

Tourism Nova Scotia says from January to June 2016, non-resident overnight visitation increased eight per cent over the same period in 2015.

It says visitation by air increased three per cent and road visitation increased 11 per cent.

Close to 800,000 tourists came to Nova Scotia in the first six months of 2016, with most coming from other provinces.

Room nights sold across the province rose by three per cent compared to the first half of 2015, but Cape Breton saw an impressive boom of 16 per cent.

There was also a 12 per cent increase of visitors to Nova Scotia from the United States, while visitation from overseas declined seven per cent.

The province says tourism revenues for the first half of the year are estimated to be $971 million.