One of the final items on the Mayor's checklist from last week's city council session was the opportunity to discuss and seek guidance from council as to the prospect of setting up a task force to investigate the potential of small cruise ship line making Prince Rupert a port of call.
The Mayor outlined some of his thoughts on the issue, proposing that it may be a revenue generating project that would better utilize the Prince Rupert Airport, which would be the arrival and departure point for cruise lines which would base their coastal operations out of the city.
You can hear some of the thoughts of the Mayor and council on the topic from the video archive of the October 22 council session (see here) the cruise ship topic arrives at the 2 hour thirty three minute mark.
The Task Force would bring together some members of Council, the business community and the Port of Prince Rupert to explore the feasibility of servicing small cruise ship passengers through the Prince Rupert airport.
The move is the latest attempt from the City to revitalize the cruise industry in the region, last years short schedule of cruise visits resulted in a wake up call of sorts for the local stakeholders.
The 2012 season saw only a few port calls from the large ships that run up and down the Pacific coast through the summer, though local volunteers did their best to provide an outstanding experience for those tourists that made Prince Rupert a stop on their itinerary.
It was a community effort that did not go un-noticed by the larger cruise lines, as 2013 offers up a bit of progress on the arrivals list. There are seven vessel calls scheduled so far for next summer, compared to the four visits of 2012. Though even the subtle jump in potential visits for the summer of 2013, is not quite at the level of the excited prospects that were outlined but a few years ago.
The bid to attract the small cruise lines would be more of an enhancement to, rather than a replacement for the larger lines that have removed Prince Rupert from the port of call list.
The Prince Rupert Port Authority and the Cruise Task Force in the community continued on with their efforts this past summer to return Prince Rupert to the map for the larger cruise lines. Working out a blue print to attract new arrivals to Prince Rupert in the competitive industry.
The nature of that competition has community after community seeking out an edge in what they offer the cruise lines, leaving the cruise lines to be in the captains' chair when it comes to picking and choosing where they wish to pull in for a visit at.
Some of the items of note over the 2012 Cruise Ship season can be found below.
Cruise Ship Task Force Update
The Silversea Shadow docks in Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert welcoming three cruise ships in July
Cruise ship arrives in Prince Rupert
With first ship arriving May 4, the Prince Rupert Cruise Task Force is seeking volunteers
Cruise Task Force updates Prince Rupert council before next week's ship arrives
New position looks at improving cruise in Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert Cruise Task Force discusses the importance of 2012 cruise season
Second cruise line announces plans to call on Prince Rupert in 2013
Silversea schedules stops in Prince Rupert
Luxury cruise line scheduled to call on Prince Rupert in 2013
You can examine other tourism related items from our Tourism Archives page
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