By Andrew Macdonald
The pandemic’s Atlantic Bubble shone a light on local tourism travel in the region when borders, including international borders, were closed as governments grappled with containing Covid-19.
Halifax-headquartered tourism hospitality titan Dennis Campbell, the founder and proprietor of Ambassatours, says locals are also continuing to help his bottom line as this year’s tourism season kicks off.
With the arrival of cruise ships to the Port of Halifax, the first since 2019 due to the pandemic, I caught up to Campbell, who was on vacation in Nashville.
“We’re just thrilled as to how the locals, in particular, have really discovered our products when there was no tourism, and with cruise ships coming back, there is kind of a convergence of strong sales from a whole new market,” he says.
“Locals have previously enjoyed some of our products, but now they are really enjoying and have stepped up to support and buy the product. We have changed it to make it more lively and more entertaining for locals, and it is the right thing to do because the local customers enjoy it.”
The Harbour Hoppers are popular with locals and tourists alike, as these Vietnam-built machines play Halifax Harbour and ride on city streets (Ambassatour photo).
Locals have long gone on his Harbour Hoppers, but are now discovering the Tall Ship Sylva, dinner cruises, craft beer cruises and wines on the water “and they have really, really discovered those products in a big way.”
So far, Ambassatours, the operator of the Harbour Hopper, among other tourism offerings, currently has north of 350 toilers, most university students, which includes his tour guides in Halifax, Saint John, N.B., and now in Newfoundland, as he expands there.
The Newfoundland and Labrador expansion had been on the planning books before the pandemic and is being rolled out this season.
“We have one of our longtime managers of our cruise operations who is from Newfoundland, and she has been after us for years to expand into Newfoundland,” says Campbell.
“We’re excited to be operating in all of Atlantic Canada,” he says, adding that a sizeable tourism package in 2019 was signed with a cruise ship line in Newfoundland.
That new business is spread throughout all ports in that province, including St. John’s, Corner Brook, and right up to Red Bay in Labrador.
Dennis Campbell is the owner of Ambassatours, the tourism company that runs among other things the Halifax Harbour Hoppers.
The hospitality packages include sea tours, tours to Gros Morne National Park, whale watching “and quite a broad selection,” he adds.
The Halifax tourism season “is looking really good. Our advanced sales are nothing we have ever experienced or seen. We are now actually 20 per cent above our highest advance sales we have ever seen before,” he adds of the 30-year-old firm.
“That is very encouraging, the pent-up demand is definitely there and people are booking in advance, which is really good.”
The company also operates Cable Wharf Restaurant, which has been modernized during the pandemic.
At the restaurant, a summer salad costs $10, a stir fry costs $15, and a lobster dinner costs $39 for a one-pound lobster or $57 for a two-pounder.
Meanwhile, a Harbour Hopper tour costs $37.43 per adult and a 90-minute outing on the Tall Ship Silva, which departs from Cable Wharf, costs $37.61. A dinner cruise on the Harbour Queen, including a three-course meal, is $100 and a two-hour wine cruise is $135.
A three-and-a-half-hour bus tour to Peggy’s Cove costs $65.60, and a day-long wine tour to the Annapolis Valley costs $147.
Today, Campbell runs Tall Ship Silva, a handful of Vietnam amphibious machines dubbed Harbour Hoppers, and double-decker buses on the Halifax Waterfront and in Saint John, as well as carting cruise passengers to iconic places like Peggy’s Cove and wine tours into the Annapolis Valley.
Ambassatours tourism company operates a fleet of double-decker buses. (Ambassatour photo).
After Ottawa removed the cruise moratorium last November, Campbell quickly called his bankers/lenders.
“We have been keeping lenders apprised of the fact that believe it or not, our cruise bookings for next year are already close to the high of 2019. We are really close to that.
“Our lenders, like us, are very encouraged and pleased that Canada has sent a strong message to the cruise industry letting them know that Canada will be open and welcoming cruise ships in 2022. The cruise ship arrival bookings for 2022 are now pacing far ahead of what we had projected to our lenders for 2022.”
“It really goes to show there is pent-up demand,” says Campbell. “We are seeing it just locally in our existing water tours and our winery tours. We are pleasantly surprised with the bookings right now with just the locals and Maritimers, and we are starting to see tourists right across the country.”
The Tall Ship Silva is owned by Dennis Campbell, founder of Ambassatours.
He founded Ambassatours three decades ago, launching the business with one passenger van to serve a historic Halifax walking tour, This summer, he is also offering tourists, including local Haligonians, a boat tour to George’s Island.
Campbell is also busy in New Brunswick. Typically, his operation sees passengers board charter buses in Saint John, and take them on tours to St. Andrew’s By-The-Sea and St. Martin’s.
“All of our products in Saint John are based on cruise ship arrivals. While we do sell to the general public, the real foundation of our operation there is cruise ships,” said Campbell.
“There are a lot of great things happening in Saint John. They are upping their game down along the waterfront with new developments, so they will make it that much better.”
Dennis Campbell says tours of George’s Island in Halifax Harbour are popular this summer.
The number one Saint John product is the hop-on, hop-off double-decker tour, which is very popular. We also have tours to St. Andrew’s and down to St. Martin’s. Those are the three main tours we offer.”
St. Martin is out towards the Fundy Trail. “It is kind of like Saint John’s version of Peggy’s Cove. It’s a very quaint village and is a pretty drive to the village and you can walk on the Bay of Fundy there,” says Campbell.
In 2021, Nova Scotia’s Liberal government, through Finance Minister Labi Kousoulis. handed Ambassatours an $11 million loan guarantee.
A photo of the Port of Saint John, where Ambassatours operates a fleet of double-decker buses. (Ambassatour photo).
“It was really a big deal because it allowed us to kind of leverage and not only to secure the company for the long term, but also to do some neat things with a new restaurant. We have totally renovated Murphy’s On The Water, with a patio and a completely new everything,” Campbell tells The Notebook.
