A number of European tour operators that government tourism officials met with in London and Paris last year to discuss promoting New Brunswick routinely mix up basic facts about the province in their ads and have been suggesting visits to defunct or shuttered attractions.

“Spend time in Saint John, the provincial capital,” suggests one ad currently being run by British-based Prestige Holidays.

“Relax before your flight to Saint John, New Brunswick’s largest city,” proposes another advertisement from U.K tour operator Wexas.   

Saint John is neither New Brunswick’s largest city, nor its capital. Those titles belong to Moncton and Fredericton, respectively.

Prestige and Wexas are two of the private tour operators New Brunswick Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace said she met and signed contracts with last September during a trip to London and Paris by her, her deputy minister Yennah Hurley and two other department officials.

During a legislative committee session last week, Scott-Wallace said her department works in close “partnership” with the companies and it was important to meet directly with them.

Some of the tour operators “had interests in the province they wanted to discuss” and all, she said, signed contracts of some kind with New Brunswick for the upcoming year.

“I sat at the table with tour operator companies,” said the minister. 

“These were face-to-face meetings with these businesses — senior executives, owners of these companies.”

Despite those direct meetings and contractual ties with the province several of the tour operators appear to be in the dark about basic New Brunswick facts, locations and attractions.

“New Brunswick’s capital is steeped in history,” Wexas writes in one blurb that then suggests visitors to the capital take in the historic Martello Tower and the New Brunswick Museum. Both sites are in Saint John, not Fredericton.

Little harm will follow, however, since neither Saint John attraction is open.

Martello Tower has been closed to the public for the last eight years and is currently shrouded in construction materials and scaffolding. The museum shut its doors in 2022 and its collections are currently in storage.  

A proposed new museum building will not be open until at least 2026.

Tour operator Canadian Sky also suggests a visit to the shuttered museum while in Saint John and for “families” adds the Cherry Brook Zoo as a preferred outing.

The zoo was closed permanently four years ago.

Moncton’s status as a regional shopping centre, one of Canada’s fastest growing metropolitan areas and New Brunswick’s largest city, appears unknown to any of the tour operators. Instead, an aging 50-year-old arena in the city got top billing in one write-up

“Moncton is known for its Coliseum,” claims Wexas.

Scott-Wallace told MLAs that selling New Brunswick as a tourist destination to Europeans is something the province is depending on the tour operators to execute.

“We have contracts signed with each and every person on this list,” Scott-Wallace said about the companies she met personally with.

“These are signed contracts with every person on this list for ’24-’25. That’s a good seven days’ work from me.”

It is unclear if New Brunswick’s Tourism department checks the accuracy of what those tour operator partners say about the province in ads or if the minister raised the issue during her face-to-face meetings with company officials.

However, on Friday a department spokesperson said in an emailed statement changes are now being requested.

“The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture has been in contact with the European tour operators to make updates to the information,” said the email.