N.B. budget cuts to tourism sector raise concerns

The New Brunswick government is cutting for than $900,000 for tourism marketing.

According to the 2025 New Brunswick budget, the tourism sector will see a large cut this year.

“This government is cutting over $900,000 for tourism marketing,” said PC MLA Tammy Scott-Wallace.

The former tourism minister criticized the Liberals’ decision, asking the new minister if impacted groups were even consulted.

“With international tension and tariffs affecting our key markets, New Brunswick should be ramping up promotions, not scaling back. This decision is a disservice to the industry and the small businesses that rely on tourism,” said Scott-Wallace.

The government released its budget documents earlier this month. The 2025-2026 tourism budget is estimated to be $19.7 million, which is down from the $20.6 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

“I’m not sure if it’s a cut, but it’s a shift here and there and we’ll try to minimize the impact on the industry,” said Tourism, Heritage and Culture Minister Isabelle Thériault. “We’re investing $3 million in the campaign Ontario, we’re investing $2.5 million in Quebec, we’re investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Canada, in France, in Germany and we want to attract, obviously, people from the USA.

“I think there’s an opportunity there to welcome the people that want to spend their vacation in New Brunswick and we’re ready to welcome them.”

When pushed on why the funding was reduced compared to last year or if she would admit the sector was seeing a decrease, she said more details would come at a later date.

“We will be providing details in the estimates. For now, we’re still working on the budget, trying to minimize the impacts, trying to shift money here and there to see how more efficient we can be,” said Thériault.

Last Wednesday, the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick (TIANB) said they oppose cuts and instead urge for immediate investment into tourism marketing.

“To this day, nobody has been able to tell us where they’re going to cut it,” said TIANB senior executive advisor Joanne Bérubé-Gagné.

TIANB, which represents about 350 tourism-sector businesses, say they were shocked by the reduced funds.

“We participated in pre-consultation, pre-budget consultation, and there was no clue or nothing raised about the fact that we might be having a hit,” Bérubé-Gagné said, who noted the tourism sector brings in more than $2.5 billion every year and represents 40,000 jobs.

“We’re bringing in new money and that new money helps pay for health, education, all the other services that don’t have those revenues, so we feel that by cutting in the tourism budget, you’re cutting in somewhere that brings revenue to the province.”

Overall, she says the budget cuts compromise the province’s ability to target key markets in a time of economic uncertainty, specifically pointing to Canadian travels, particularly those from Ontario and Quebec, and visitors from New England.

“A lot of our businesses count on the summers to get the extra business that they don’t get year round, so for them, it’s a preoccupation that we might be missing an opportunity to attract more visitors and keep them here so that’s the biggest concern I think they have that we might not be able to catch the opportunities that are in front of us right now,” she said.

TIANB is now calling on the provincial government to instead invest $1 million to increase the promotion of New Brunswick as a travel destination.

Bérubé-Gagné says they’re hoping to speak with the minister about where the cuts are coming from and find solutions that work better overall and don’t impact the tourism sector.

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