Canadian dollar is sliding, but most American would-be tourists don't know that

People in the Nova Scotia tourism industry are expecting big things this season as theprice of gas makes travel less expensive and the plummeting loonie discouragesCanadians from vacationing outside the country.

Many tourist operators alsoexpect the low dollar toattract American travellers.

Butthose responsible for marketing Nova Scotia and Cape Breton say Americans don't know about the exchange rate and, for the most part, we aren't telling them.

"Americans don't normally don't know what the difference in the Canadian dollar is," said Mary Tulle, CEO of Destination Cape Breton.

"They don't think about ourcurrency being different from theirs, so it will be interesting to see again whether this year's (tourism marketing) campaign might actually have a little bit of a focus on that."

Scott MacAulay, whoowns a number of inns and hotels throughCape Breton Resorts, saidthe coming season looks strong.

"Our bookings are up significantly and we're seeing a fair bit ofactivity already," he said.

But MacAulaysaidthere is room for improvement when it comes to marketing Nova Scotia, especially to Americans.

"I think getting the word out, you know,with the budget that Nova Scotia or Canada has, is a little bit difficult," he said.

Dollar isn't everything

The director of marketing for Tourism Nova Scotia,Martha Stevens, saidresearch by her agency shows most American visitors aren't aware of the exchange rate.

Tourism Nova Scotia doesn't spend much marketing that aspect.

Rather, Stevens said theprimaryobjective of the province's marketing"is really to talk about the benefits of what Nova Scotia has to offer andthe beautiful experiences that they can participate in here once they are in the province."

Once they do arrive, she said many Americans will stay longer and spend more when they discoverthe exchange rate.

But calling too much attention to the exchange rate can backfire when the dollar rebounds, she said.

"We can't build a false sense of dependency on just relying on theadvantages of the dollar," she said.

"So we really want to make sure that when the dollar returns to that competitive landscape, we're talking about and creating awareness ofall the beautiful things that make Nova Scotiasuch an enticing place to visit."