Unama’ki – Cape Breton Economic Impact and Growth Potential of Year-Round Tourism Sector Operations
The Cape Breton Partnership engaged KPMG LLP to conduct an Economic Impact Assessment of the current state of Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector and quantify the growth potential for the region under various future state scenarios, such as an expansion of year-round tourism operations.
The Cape Smokey Development Economic Impact Study, found below, also builds on this report and provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of the existing, ongoing and future planned investments by Cape Smokey Holdings to the Ingonish and Victoria County area and more broadly Unama’ki – Cape Breton and Nova Scotia’s economy.
Objectives:
- Quantify the current state of tourism on Unama’ki – Cape Breton, including direct, indirect and induced impacts.
- Estimate the incremental economic impact of various future state scenarios where key growth levers for the tourism sector have been enabled.
Key Findings:
- Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector is a robust economic driver to the local region and province.
- In its current state, Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector is estimated to generate total output of approximately $575M – $721M.
- Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector accounts for almost 20% of Nova Scotia’s tourism sector output; exceeding its relative population share.
- Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector has a higher impact per dollar compared to the rest of the province: $1 of visitor spend in Unama’ki – Cape Breton generates up to $2.63 of total output across the economy, compared to $2.20 in the rest of Nova Scotia.
- There is significant unrealized potential for the sector if growth is realized, which could total to an additional $125M – $512M in output alone.
- Up to 44% of this additional output could be realized by attracting visitors who stay longer, all else being held constant.
Cape Smokey Development Economic Impact Study
This Economic Impact Study provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of planned investments by Cape Smokey Holdings to the Ingonish and Victoria County area and more broadly Unama’ki – Cape Breton and Nova Scotia’s economy.
KPMG was commissioned by the Cape Breton Partnership to conduct the future steady-state modelling of the study, in collaboration with Cape Breton University’s World Tourism Institute, who were engaged to conduct an environmental scan that contextualizes Cape Smokey’s current impact on Victoria County tourism operators and comparable impacts from selected case studies.
This study builds upon a previous Economic Impact Assessment which showed Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector was estimated to generate annual total output of approximately $575M – $721M; this is a significant impact, as Unama’ki – Cape Breton’s tourism sector output accounts for almost 20% of Nova Scotia’s tourism sector visitation and output, exceeding its relative population share of 13.6%.
To receive access to the downloadable Cape Smokey Development Economic Impact Study Summary and Full Study documents, please complete the below form: