Latest news with #DennisCampbell
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Employment numbers up Nationally but not in the Maritimes
Nationally, Canada added 83,000 jobs in June, marking the first increase in employment since January and dropping the unemployment rate slightly to 6.9 per cent. But the three Maritime provinces saw slight increases to their unemployment rates. Maritime unemployment rates for June were: Prince Edward Island: 8.6 per cent, up 0.4 per cent from May Nova Scotia: 6.7 per cent, up 0.2 per cent from May New Brunswick: 7.3 per cent, up 1 per cent from May Nova Scotia lost 3,400 jobs in June, with the majority of the losses in the accommodation and food services sector, according to the latest Statistics Canada figures. Dennis Campbell, CEO and president of Ambassatour Gray Line said the hiring landscape looked different in the Spring. 'There was a better or more supply of available students than we had seen in previous years,' said Campbell. The increase in job seekers may point to a tightening labour market or a sluggish start to the summer tourism season said Acadia University economist Andrew Davis. 'Month-to-month numbers can be noisy but 3,400 jobs is not a small amount considering the size of the province,' said Davis. 'If this was Ontario that wouldn't be very much but 3,400 jobs for Nova Scotia is a reasonable number you might dig into a little bit.' Davis said he isn't surprised by the increase in Maritime unemployment given the interconnectivity between economies. Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia executive director Natasha Chestnut told CTV News the industry doesn't put much emphasis on monthly statistics and tends to focus on quarterly trends but expects the job numbers to rebound as the summer season ramps up. Chestnut also pointed to the weather in May and June and the stretch of rainy weekends which does impact the food service industry.
CTV News
07-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Cruise ship traffic on the rise in the Maritimes
A new day marked the arrival of another cruise ship in Halifax. 'Now we are getting a ship almost every day,' said Ambassatours Gray Line tour company President and CEO Dennis Campbell. In fact, over the next week and a half, 10 cruise ships will visit the Halifax Waterfront, which means a massive influx of visitors will see the local sites, shop, take pictures and walk the boardwalk. 'It is all about seeing new places and revisiting old places,' said cruise ship passenger Art Barrett from Louisville, Kentucky. 'We were here about 20 years ago and when I've been here, I've always found it nice.' The cruise industry is booming, which has helped spark a post-COVID rise in tourism. Cruise ships bring more than 350,000 passengers to the Port of Halifax each year, aboard more than 200 ships. 'Cruises have their place, and we have cruised several times before,' said Norman Yee, who is visiting from Calgary. 'It's a nice way to get introduced to a few different destinations, without having to pack and unpack because the hotel travels with us, so to speak.' In Halifax, the number of visitors climbed by more than 18 per cent last year, compared to 2023. According to Campbell, as the cruise industry grows, it brings people to Canada from all over the world, in increasing numbers. 'Our number one clientele would be Americans, but after that, we get a lot of Canadians, British people and a lot of Germans,' said Campbell. 'And we are getting a whole variety of culture from all over Europe, more so than we've had in a long time.' Campbell also pointed out cruise ship season goes well beyond the summer. These large vessels visit Halifax until mid-November.
