Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine gives a positive assessment regarding tourism traffic for the year of 2015. As a matter of fact, the destination has experienced a 7% increase in tourists this year.

No less than 54,000 tourists visited the archipelago during the summer season (from May to October), excluding all international cruise passengers. According to Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine, the total amount for 2015 reaches approximately 67,500 tourists. Even though the increase is spread among the whole summer season, we noted a higher increase in visitors at the beginning and at the end of the summer (during May, June and September), which reinforces the efforts to promote the destination within a wider tourist season.

Furthermore, despite the fact that eight cruise ship layovers were canceled, 4,600 passengers visited the archipelago during the summer season. Thus, marine transport remains the preferred means of transportation for the visitors coming to the Iles de la Madeleine, with 85% of arrivals during the summer. Tourisme Iles de la Madeleine wishes to thank the CTMA for sharing its client data regarding the ferry and the cruise ship. We evaluate that only 15% of arrivals is by plane.

Tourist Information Office
The tourist information office also experienced an increase in information requests over the course of the past year. We noted a 22% increase in welcoming acts in 2015, which includes all information requests received by email, over the phone or in person. Despite the situation of other tourist regions, the tourist information office of the Islands remains essential for the visitors during their stay.

Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine's Website
From the beginning of 2015 up to now, we noted a substantial increase in the global traffic of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine's website, which represents a 23% increase in visitors compared to the same period last year. This traffic increase comes mainly from Canada (21% from Quebec, 29% from Maritime Provinces and 24% from Ontario). There were also more visitors from America and France on the website this year, with increases of 16% and 5%, respectively.

These data demonstrate once again the importance of the website for the visitors when they are planning their trip and, most importantly, when they are in the archipelago. Indeed, nearly 40,000 visits from the Îles de la Madeleine were recorded on the website between June and September. Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine's adaptive website remains the main reference for tourist information once the visitors are on the Islands.

Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine wishes to thank all the members of the tourism industry that are contributing to the promotion of the destination, whether by taking individual actions or collecting the accommodation tax (act 76) that is fully dedicated to the promotion of the archipelago.

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Source:
Marie-Christine LeBlanc, Marketing and Communications Agent
Tourisme Iles de la Madeleine
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