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November 20, 1997
(Tourism, Culture and Recreation)


The following statement was issued today by Sandra Kelly, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

As I announced last week in a joint presentation with Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador, our province has just experienced what is undoubtedly its most successful tourism year on record.

On the strength of our Cabot 500 Anniversary Celebrations, 1997 has become a benchmark year in terms of future tourism growth. The success of the year goes beyond traditional yardsticks of non-resident visitation and tourism expenditure, in that we have also achieved unprecedented awareness of Newfoundland and Labrador throughout the world.

An additional 54,800 people visited our province this year between January and September, an impressive increase of 21 per cent over the same period last year. Our major hotels in Newfoundland and Labrador recorded a 22 per cent jump in occupancy rates, compared with a 1.9 per cent increase for the rest of Canada overall.

International media coverage, along with ongoing exposure in feature TV programs and tourism periodicals will mean a legacy of awareness of our province long after 1997 is over.

But as we have all experienced this year, the Cabot celebrations was really about spirit and pride in our province, our culture, our heritage and ourselves. In celebration of this wonderful anniversary year, last Saturday night at Corner Brook=s spectacular new Canada Games Centre, a multi-act, program of entertainment and special effects was staged in true Newfoundland and Labrador style. It was an event which truly celebrated ourselves, our future, and underscored just what can be staged in the number one concert venue in our province today.

It was called "The Fire Still Burns," after the finale song written by Ged Blackmore of the Folk of the Sea, and the evening featured performers from throughout our province, such as The Ennis Sisters, The Irish Descendants, Billy and the Bruisers, Deer Lake's Xavier Dancers Meshikamau from Sheshatshit, Labrador, and 500 young people from the Five Hundred More Youth Congress and the Provincial Student Leadership conference.

It was a wonderful finale to our Cabot 500 Anniversary year, and a highlight of what we have to celebrate in the very near future, such as the 1999 Canada Winter Games, our 50th Anniversary of Confederation with Canada, and the Viking Millennium.

Thanks to the sponsorship of NewTel Communications, PetroCanada, and the integral involvement of CBC Television, the program will be presented tonight in a 2-hour feature concert on CBC TV throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

The show begins at 7:30 Newfoundland time, 7 p.m. in Labrador, and will be an opportunity for the entire province to see what 3,000 Corner Brook concert goers were treated to on November 15.

I encourage all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to tune into this program tonight, not only for some great entertainment, but to see the remarkable enthusiasm of over 500 young people from throughout our province, celebrating the great future they have, in Newfoundland and Labrador.

1997 11 20 2:55 p.m.

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