PEI’s Crucial Tourism Sector

Prince Edward Island’s tourism sector is going to take a tough hit this coming Summer as COVID-19 is devastating the economy.

I write this although I am optimistic that we will be able to pull further ahead than anticipated. In slowdowns of the past, the Island usually will see more tourists visiting from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick which provides a nice boost. That said, we’ve never seen anything like COVID-19 in my lifetime.

A couple of weeks ago I was assigned to take some photographs for the Globe & Mail for a story (and gallery) on the PEI tourism sector. The assignment was on a fellow Crossfit782 member Dave Hyndman who owns Dave’s Lobster.

I arrived at Peakes Quay about an hour before Dave & I were scheduled to meet. I went for a walk around the popular tourist destination looking at different angles. During this walk, 100% of the passersby greeted me. 100%. That is every single person and there must have been 20-30 people walk by. Yes, PEI is friendly and people are usually very polite but never in my experience had every single person acknowledge me as they walked by. This pandemic is certainly bringing our Island closer together.

Alex Cyr (from Summerside, PEI) wrote up a great piece and it was published in today’s Globe & Mail. Here are some of the photos.