In the parking lot of the Cape Breton Miner's Museum, you'll spot license plates from all over the country on most summer days.
The visitors are people who spent quite a bit of money to drive to the island, and when the carbon tax comes into effect they'll be paying more.
"Well, there's not much we can do about it. We'll have to pay,” said Norman Bourbonnais, who had driven from Ottawa with his partner to tour Nova Scotia.
The couple admitted they didn't expect gas in the province to go up more than $0.14 per liter partway through their trip, but they were taking the additional cost in stride.
"For us, it's not going to change our plans. We're still going to travel,” added Michelle Mauviel.
The Miner's Museum's executive director, Mary Pat Mombourquette, said after two pandemic years and disappointing visitor numbers in 2022, she's concerned the carbon tax and higher gas prices could keep some people from coming here this year.
"Well, it's making me nervous,” said Mombourquette."We were banking on this to get us back up to operational mode, and if it doesn't happen I don't know what's going to happen to us."
The CEO of Destination Cape Breton wasn't too worried.
Terry Smith said the numbers still point to a strong summer and fall on the Cabot Trail and around the island.
"We've seen that the pent-up demand for travel has been really strong through inflationary pressures,” said Smith. "And really, if somebody is going to be coming to Nova Scotia for a vacation, this is really just a nominal fee that will be on top of their travel expenses."
Smith added that given some major recent weather events, there's something to be said for trying to protect the natural beauty that draws people to the island in the first place.
"In the last four years, we've had two major hurricanes and additional heavy rain events, plus this year we've had wildfires in the province,” Smith said. “So, climate change is a serious issue."
