How Tourism P.E.I. is hoping to attract visitors in the spring shoulder season

As the province continues to set recordsfor overnight stays, Tourism P.E.I. is searching for the next bigthing to attract visitors in the spring shoulder season.

The province recently issued a call for a "spring season signature event" in 2019 to lead into the Festival of Small Halls, asking Islanders to come up with their wildest,most creative plans to draw tourists in the spring shoulder season.

"Imagination is going to be one of the keys of this," Chris Palmer, the province's minister of economic development and tourism, told CBC Radio:MainstreetP.E.I.'s Angela Walker.

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"We're looking for some creativity to come from P.E.I. to find things that we can do that will support and augment Small Halls and have it focused in the springtime so that we can increase tourist visitation to P.E.I."

'Hustle is a big, important piece of this'

The government is budgetingup to $200,000 for the new event, Palmer said.

It's looking for qualified, experiencedcompanies that will be prepared tomanage thelarge-scale major activity.

The submissions will be considered based on the event's ability to generate substantial direct economic impacts on the provincial economy, offer significant tourism, cultural or social benefits, and aidrural development.

Spring weather can be unpredictable, Palmer noted, so any event cannot be "completely weather-dependent."

The province wants the event to bring "new money" to P.E.I. and be something Islanders will want to take intoo, he said.

But be swift with your proposal, Palmer said, asspringwill come faster than you think.

"Hustle is a big, important piece of this," he said. "We don't need to delay this anymore, let's kind of get at it and have visitors come here so that businesses can respond to the need."

For more information on the province's expression of interest, visit thetender website.

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