Nova Scotia's Department of Tourism has unveiled this year's marketing campaign.

The campaign is called "Take Yourself There."

It encourages would-be visitors to simply wander the province and feel relaxed and free to discover surprises.

The style and look of the ads come from the communications company, Extreme Group. This is the first time it has held the contract.

"The first step is to create that desire. So if you see that and it makes you feel like you want to look into going then we've kind of done the job," said Shawn King of Extreme Group.

The ads are geared toward outdoor enthusiasts visiting the province for the first time.

The campaign has been launched in the U.S. and as far away as the UK and Germany.

In Canada the greatest emphasis will be in Ontario and — for the first time in three years — Quebec.

The campaign's national launch is next week, two months after Newfoundland and Labrador began running its ads.

However this launch is starting earlier than last year's effort at promoting provincial tourism.

Pat Sullivan is the CEO of the Nova Scotia Tourism Agency.

"We were out in January in the UK. We are out in March in Ontario. We're out in April in Quebec and these are driving markets and we feel very confident that this is the right time to be out there," said Sullivan.

The $5-million campaign is 15 per cent more than the government spent last year. The annual number of visitors is down nine percent since 2000.