The New Brunswick summer travel rebate program wraps up at the end of the the month.
The Explore NB Travel Incentive program provides a 20 per cent rebate on eligible expenses of up to $1,000 for those who have stayed overnight in New Brunswick.
Government Spokesperson Jason Humphrey says as of October 22, there have already been almost 22,000 claims from across the Atlantic provinces, paying out more than one million dollars. Of those, there have been almost 3,000 claims submitted from Nova Scotia, more than 700 from PEI and just over 200 from Newfoundland and Labrador.
He adds, approximately 18,000 are unique applicants. Unique applicants refer to the number of actual people. So this program has generated more than $5.8 million in spending in New Brunswick.
Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture Tammy Scott-Wallace says there are still a few days left, “People still have until Sunday, October 31 to travel, and we expect to see the bulk of the receipts submitted in the month to come.”
Scott-Wallace says anticipates they will offer the rebate program one final time for the winter season,
“Last winter was a very difficult winter. We want those tourism operators to have an opportunity to benefit from the Explore NB program.”
There is $3.5 million budgeted for this season for this Explore NB Travel Incentive program.
“I believe the incentive program did exactly what was intended and that was to really encourage New Brunswickers to explore their own province again this summer. When we look at the breakdown of other travellers to New Brunswick, we know they took advantage of the program as well,” Scott-Wallace says.
