The dark days of the pandemic are behind us and Prince Edward Island is once again bragging about record tourism seasons. But some people are beginning to question the government’s priorities.

While the P.E.I. Department of Tourism did not accept a request for Tourism Minister Zack Bell to be interviewed for this story, a government news release about the 2024 tourism season celebrated a return to record-breaking years. Last year saw an estimated 1.7 million visitors, $520.7 million in spending and $87.9 million in tax revenue. It topped the 2023 season by four per cent, and the 2019 season by seven per cent.

“The Government of Prince Edward Island will continue to make strategic investments that support our tourism sector and its significant contributions to our provincial economy,” Bell said in the news release.

The growth has not come cheaply. When it set an industry record for visitor spending in 2019, the province budgeted $7.6 million for marketing. In 2025, that had grown to $11.8 million. That’s about the same as New Brunswick, which has a population almost five times that of the Island’s. At $65.54 per resident, per capita spending on tourism marketing is four and a half times what it is for Nova Scotia, and even higher than that for New Brunswick.

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