Tourism operators in the Maritimes are hoping for some March madness when it comes to people booking winter experiences before the season ends.
Jessica Klein helps run Iron Mountain Wilderness Cabins — an all-season getaway atop Whycocomagh Mountain in Cape Breton.
She says their business has barely survived the past two pandemic winters, but with restrictions in Nova Scotia ending March 21, the hope is some people will get out ahead of that and book reservations during March break.
"Oh my goodness, that would be wonderful,” said Klein, adding that bookings are starting to pick up after a slow December and January.
“We're just treading water here. So we welcome the support here 100 per cent. We'd love to have families come up and try staying off the grid on the mountain with us and enjoy the snow that we have up here."
At Ski Cape Smokey in Ingonish, N.S., less snow than normal this winter and COVID concerns, mean March break bookings have been a bit slow.
But resort management says they're still hoping to welcome some 300 visitors-a-day during that week.
"Almost no wait lines in the lift and a beautiful, comfortable ride to the top with all of our main runs running strong,” said general manager Martin Kejval.
Destination Cape Breton CEO Terry Smith attributes an uptick in website visitor traffic to what he calls a pent-up urge to get out there.
He’s hoping that translates into good March break visitor numbers.
"Traffic to our website for our winter campaign is really strong, it's up 46 per cent over last year,” Smith said.
“A strong March Break would really make a huge difference for a number of our operators."
Back at Iron Mountain Wilderness Cabins, the hope is that once restrictions are lifted, people will come out more than ever to snowshoe, snowmobile and stay.
"You can choose to really embrace winter camping, or you can kind of tuck away inside and hang out in our lodge here in the pub,” Klein said.
