Nova Star's replacement needs to be more upscale to be successful: businessman

A Yarmouth businessman is arguing that one of the reasons Nova Star failed was because the service was not upscale enough.

Keith Condonbelieves one of the main reasons Nova Star wasn't successful was because it didn't have enough amenities on board for passengers.

"You do need to go to that next level and deliver a service that's going to give people the first day of their vacation as well as just a ferry ride. Without that you cannot generate enough funds to make it work," said Condon.

Until recently, Nova Star rana ferry that carried passengers between Yarmouth, N.S., and Portland, Maine.

The Nova Scotia government terminated its agreement with Nova Star and is now in negotiations with Bay Ferries to run the ferry service next year.

Condonhas some experience with ferries. Hewas on the committee that originally suggested bringingNova Star to the province. He also put in a bid to run the ferry service before the province started negotiations with Bay Ferries.

In an interview on CBC'sInformation Morning,Condon said studies from around the world have shown that ferries, especially overnight ferries, need lots of amenities to both excite passengers and get them to start spending money.

"Our studies show clearly that on an overnight-run ferry service like this you do need amenities on board to generate revenue because you have your audience captive," he said.

"You do need to be the visitor information centre for the province because that's the real job at hand, to bring tourists here, and you do need enough cabins and so on to do the job."

Many people havethe opposite view, suggesting the Nova Star was already too upscaleand the service between Nova Scotia and Maine needed to be stripped down, have fewer amenities and offer cheaper fares.

"That's not knowing the market," said Condon."The market and the type of tourists we are trying to get to come here, families and their cars, their motor homes. People that are going to stay for a week or more, and 34 years of historyproved to us that you do need amenities on board."

Condonhopes that Bay Ferries will learn from Nova Star's mistakes and offer the services people are looking for while onboard the ferry.