Tourism was the topic at Ignite Labs in Yarmouth.

An innovation event was held Thursday with leaders from the tourism sector.

They reflected on a challenging year through poor weather, fires and floods.

The Yarmouth and Acadian Shores Tourism Association’s Neil MacKenzie says having the ‘CAT’ ferry is huge for the area.

“Visitors arriving through the ferry are spending about 40 percent more than visitors to the province overall, we think that’s tremendous. They’re staying longer too,” said MacKenzie.

He says they want to see the area grow in the fall, winter and spring as well.

“As we move into developing content for those times, we need to have accommodations in other sectors move along with us, and sometimes that can be a challenge in getting staff. We want to work with everybody.”

He says the small cruise market is something they’ve been getting into, and geographically we’re well positioned to do that.

Nova Scotia Music Week will bring over 1,000 delegates to the area next week.

Many other tourism operators attended the Ignite session.

Tim Doucette with the Deep Sky Eye Observatory in Quinan compared this season to last.

“Last season, our cancellations were at about 30 percent, this year it was up over 50 percent. That happens if there’s fog or if it’s cloudy,” said Doucette.

He says there were positives, because the people that came had incredible experiences.

Doucette noted a lot of honeymooners came, and many have already committed to more than one night next year.

Doucette won a $1,000 Innovation pitch at the Ignite event, and will pitch an idea in Halifax at the TIANS conference next month.