With the Sail Grand Prix kicking off on Friday, restaurants in downtown Halifax are expecting a very busy weekend.
According to the executive director of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia (RANS), when Halifax hosted the event in 2024, it brought in tens of thousands of spectators.
“It’s a huge event, and we’re going to have so many visitors,” says Natasha Chestnut. “And when people visit here, they like to go out — they like to dine out, so it’s going to be a busy one.”
Chestnut says local downtown businesses should expect similar numbers this weekend, with the return of the international sailing competition, noting many restaurants in the downtown core are already booking up.
“Even the numbers from 2024, when we were looking at them, there was definitely a big spike in the restaurant sales over the Sail GP weekend,” says Chestnut, adding that restaurants downtown already see an influx of tourists and cruise ship traffic in June. “They’re busy without an event like this at this time of year, and now they are going to be even busier.”
In a release from the Halifax Regional Municipality, downtown is expected to be buzzing with spectators as well as over 1,000 athletes, team members and families.
The municipality says people should anticipate increased traffic congestion around the downtown area during the races, with some disruption to ferry services.
Restaurants will not be the only businesses seeing an impact either, as several hotels have sold out already ahead of the event, with starting rates for rooms surging.
The luxury Muir Hotel on the waterfront has a standard king guest room listed at $1,279 for one night.