New BrunswickNew Brunswick has a new five-year strategy aimed at boosting tourism. The plan is to focus on markets, products and experiences deemed to have the greatest potential for attracting visitors, said Isabelle Thériault, minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. Isabelle Thériault says N.B. is still trying to shed image as drive-through provinceJennifer Sweet · CBC News · Posted: Nov 03, 2025 1:55 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesTourism Minister Isabelle Thériault says New Brunswick’s cultures and differences are its strengths and need to be promoted. (Ed Hunter/CBC)New Brunswick has a new five-year strategy aimed at boosting tourism.The plan is to focus on markets, products and experiences deemed to have the greatest potential, said Isabelle Theriault, minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture.“We have the big tourism anchors — Hopewell Rocks, Parlee Beach, le Village Acadien — but we also have little gems everywhere in each region and in each season also,” she said.“We want to put the light, of course, on the big anchors, but also on … the small experiences that tourists want to try.”In terms of markets, Quebec, Ontario, and New England are the main targets, Thériault said.They haven’t been explored as much as they should, she said.Thériault said there are big tourism anchors every year, such as Hopewell Rocks, but there are also little gems in every season, too. (Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press)She sees potential to attract more visitors from Ontario, for example, during the fall shoulder season, the time between the peak of summer and the offseason.The strategy was put together with input from tourism operators, Indigenous communities and a survey that more than 8,000 residents responded to, Thériault said. The government would like to increase annual revenue from the industry to $3.7 billion by 2031 from about $2.7 billion now.The department is working with a budget of about $20 million this year.Theriault doesn’t know how much she’ll have to work with next year but said the strategy can work with whatever level of funding is available.The government will “make sharper choices,” she said, and focus its attention where needed to have better co-ordinated support.One size fits all doesn’t work, said Thériault, noting that attractions in each of a dozen regions in the province have been divided into three categories — really ready to thrive, needing support and at the first steps.“We want to help them grow,” she said.Tourism operators and regional service commissions will be involved in deciding what to promote and invest in, Thériault said.But one type of tourism she thinks has potential is cycling.She noted the Acadian Peninsula’s véloroute trails and a mountain biking competition hosted in Campbellton.“This is a huge trend that tourists want,” she said. “New Brunswick can be a leader.”New Brunswick is still trying to shed its image as a drive-through province and to get visitors to stay for two or three days instead of half a day, Thériault said.The possible addition or improvement of road signs is another matter being discussed with tourism operators and regional service commissions, she said.“We have many features that we need to promote better — our waterways, our beaches, the cycling, the Indigenous tourism and our cultures, the Acadian products,” Thériault said.“These are things that we have to put the light on that … are unique to our regions. We have to distinguish ourselves.”The province’s cultures and differences are strengths, said the minister, and they need to be better showcased.Indigenous tourism, for example, is growing fast, she said.Meanwhile, some heritage sites in the province, operated by third parties, are feeling cast by the wayside.MacDonald Farm in Miramichi didn’t operate this year. Dawn Lamkey MacDonald, who was president of the farm’s operating committee on behalf of the local chapter of the Highland Society of New Brunswick, says smaller sites need adequate funding. (Sam Farley/CBC)MacDonald Farm in Miramichi, for example, didn’t operate this year.“The smaller sites need adequate funding,” said Dawn Lamkey MacDonald, who was president of the MacDonald Farm’s operating committee on behalf of the local chapter of the Highland Society of New Brunswick.Lamkey MacDonald said she heard from many people in Miramichi and beyond who were upset by the closure.The farm was among five heritage sites purchased by the province in the 1970s and 1980s, said Theriault, grouping it with Ministers Island and Sheriff Andrews House in Saint Andrews, Doak House in Doaktown and Bonar Law House in the Rexton area.“We are doing an action plan in arts, culture and heritage to analyze how we are managing those sites, what can we do better, how can we better support them, and what are the needs,” she said.The province is open to ideas, said Thériault, including new management structures and the possible creation of an endowment fund.“We’ll be able to move better when we have the results of that plan.”The Miramichi Highland society has been in consultation with the company the government hired to do this analysis, said MacDonald. “We truly hope this new model is successful and all the sites can operate,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORJennifer Sweet has been telling the stories of New Brunswickers for over 20 years. She is originally from Bathurst, got her journalism degree from Carleton University and is based in Fredericton. She can be reached at 451-4176 or jennifer.sweet@cbc.ca.With files from Information Morning Fredericton
Tourism minister says N.B. will target Quebec, Ontario, New England with new 5-year strategy
