HALIFAX—Halifax’s Stanfield International Airport is the latest in Canada to introduce a stopover program, enticing tourists to do more than just pass through the municipality on their layovers.

A new collaboration between the airport and partners at WestJet, Discover Halifax and Ambassatours is encouraging passengers to spend a little extra time in the city by offering tourism packages to WestJet flyers with Halifax layovers.

“We know that our destination on the East Coast provides a perfect opportunity for visitors to come and explore Halifax on their journey between North America and Europe,” said Discover Halifax’s vice-president of marketing, Erica Pellerin, at the program’s launch event Wednesday.

The new program allows travellers flying in and out of 10 North American and four European destinations to book a stopover between seven hours and seven days, for no additional airfare charge. While they’re in town, passengers will be offered access to a number of promotional deals intended to get them exploring Nova Scotia.

“I think when people think of Halifax ... you think of lobsters, lighthouses, Sou’westers, ocean, of course, but that really is just the start of what we have to offer,” said Pellerin.

Highlights of the new tourism packages include discounted rides on the Hop On Hop Off tour buses or the Harbour Hopper for shorter stays, and discounted rates for the ALT Hotel and AVIS car rentals for those with longer visits.

At Wednesday’s launch event, held in the new Bia Mara restaurant at Halifax Stanfield airport, passengers arriving from Dublin and Glasgow were encouraged to explore all that Nova Scotia has to offer, including one of the longest waterfront boardwalks in the world and the noon gun at the Halifax Citadel national park.

“I think the bottom line is that whether you have seven hours or you have seven days, there really is so much to do here,” said Pellerin.

Halifax’s new program is following the same flight path as Icelandair, which offers one to five day stopovers in the country at no additional airfare cost, and has seen a spike in tourism as a result.

Representatives from Halifax’s International airport are hoping the program will draw a similar increase in attention to Atlantic Canada.

“With the expansion of international services, particularly new routes offered by WestJet ... we have essentially worked to become more of a hub airport here, particularly in Atlantic Canada, providing that key connection between the rest of Canada, Northeastern U.S. and key points in Europe. Because of our geographic location we are well suited to provide that key connection point,” said Tiffany Chase, the airport’s director of public affairs and marketing.

“We’re really trying to facilitate people understanding what opportunities and experiences are available to them and how they can take advantage of different transportation options and tours that are already available.”

Julia-Simone Rutgers is a Halifax-based journalist and a freelance contributor for Star Halifax. Follow her on Twitter: @jsrutgers

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