The Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership was renewed last year for a three-year term. It's a $20-million three-year agreement financed 50% by ACOA, roughly 30% by the provincial governments in Atlantic Canada, and roughly 20% by industry. A management committee has been established that includes senior officials from the governments and the industry associations. Our markets of interest currently are the northeastern United States and the mid-Atlantic, as well as the U.K.
It's been a very successful partnership. It's been around since 1991 or 1992 and has been renewed on a three-year basis each time. I think it's deemed a best practice with respect to regional collaboration around marketing, and we try to measure our results accurately on that. The last evaluation of the ACTP suggested that there was a 15:1 return on investment for every dollar spent in those markets. So I think it's been quite right.
With respect to your question about the tourism sector and its importance, I like to say tourism is twice as important to Prince Edward Island as it is to anywhere else because it represents 6% of our GDP, whereas it is about 3%, I think, Canada-wide. It's a dynamic industry and there's renewal and growth in the industry.
This season, early indications are that it's been quite robust. Traffic across the Confederation Bridge was up 12% in July, year over year. Airport traffic was up about 16%. Those are great indications that people are coming. They're tending to stay longer. I think the American dollar has had a positive impact in two respects: one, keeping Canadians at home and not necessarily going to the United States for their vacation, and two, giving increased access to Americans to visit Prince Edward Island.