Chéticamp motel owners are thankful yet cautious about the announcement that Nova Scotia will be opening its doors to Atlantic travel. 

Starting on July 3rd, visitors from other maritime provinces will be allowed to visit Nova Scotia without having to isolate for 14 days. The change also applies to Nova Scotians visiting the other Atlantic provinces. The move is meant to foster tourism but Greg Larocque, organizer of the Chéticamp Area Registered Lodging Association and owner of the Cornerstone Motel, has some doubts.

“One of the things we’re short right now is booking and business,” he said. “However, I don’t know if [the Atlantic bubble] is going to be as big as we wish it to be. I think we’re going to find that the number of people that are booking may be a lot lower than what is expected, based on a lot of things. A lot of people planned their vacations and may have completely taken it out of their books, basically, and decided to use that money to do other things with, staycations at home, put a pool in, finish the basement off.”

The government also announced it will be giving bars and restaurants more liberties. They will be allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity again, with proper distancing between tables. It’s a move that lodging businesses welcome with open arms, Lerocque said.

“I think that’s one of the things that really go hand in hand,” he said, “because we may be able to bring hotel guests in. But if the hotel guests come in and there’s no place to eat or there are difficulties eating, I’m thinking there would be an awful out of backlash on that and fewer people would want to travel because they can’t get places to eat.”

One of the changes Laroque isn’t looking forward to seeing is the province lifting its quarantine requirements to other provinces. “Quebec and Ontario are a large part of our business every year,” he said, “and proud to say we love to have them here. At the end of the day, until I see number go down in Ontario and Quebec - and I think I’m speaking for a lot of people in the Chéticamp area, we really aren’t ready to open the door to have Ontario and Quebec come in. The chances are very high. The population here is fairly old, and by that, we mean they are more susceptible to it. And not only more susceptible, but it would be more devastating to the population should it get anywhere near a pandemic on the island.”

On today’s press conference, Premier McNeil also announced that private campgrounds are allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity; recognized businesses or organizations can hold outdoor events of a maximum of 250 people with physical distancing. They can also hold indoor events at 50 per cent the capacity of the room, to a maximum of 200 people, with physical distancing.

The province has renewed the state of emergency until July 12.