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| Prince Rupert's Commercial and Service Sector will take a hit this summer as the Cruise season faces continued suspension until the end of October |
On Friday, Transportation Minister Marc Garneau pulled down the curtain on any thoughts of a 2020 Cruise Season for Canadian ports, part of the ongoing Federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we noted at the time, Mr. Garneau announced the extension of the ban on large vessel cruise visits (those ships with more than 100 passengers) as well as significant financial fines for vessels carrying less that 100 passengers, moves that will leave terminals such as Prince Rupert's Northland Terminal locked for the summer and into the fall.
The ban will make for another blow to the Prince Rupert tourism, commercial and service sector, with Cruise ship visits bringing in thousands of visitors through the short season that runs from May to September and injects over one million dollars into local shops and services.
We looked to follow up with both the Port of Prince Rupert and Tourism Prince Rupert over the weekend to seek out their views on the Cruise Ship ban and what measures that they may have in mind to help keep Prince Rupert in the eye of the cruise ship industry for more normal times.
From Tourism Prince Rupert Ceilidh Marlow made note that the news was not a surprise for the organization.
Today's announcement from the federal government regarding cruise does not come as a surprise, given Dr. Bonnie Henry's comments earlier this month about not recommending that cruise ships be allowed to dock in BC this summer. That said, it does make for another blow to our local tourism sector.
With over 25 ships now docking in Prince Rupert annually, the influx of travellers to our local shops, restaurants, and tour providers represents significant local income.
The cruise economy in Prince Rupert has been built up considerably over the past few years due to the hard work of the Port Authority, and it's likely that recovery will be slow for this crucial sector.
Ms. Marlow also noted how Tourism Prince Rupert is currently offering resources for the local tourism industry and how it is their hope that the measures and marketing plans in place will help local operators weather the challenges of this year, in anticipation of better times in 2021.
In addition to providing up-to-date resources, information, and guidance for our local tourism businesses, Tourism Prince Rupert is also currently building a robust regional marketing campaign for this summer to help bring an influx of BC residents to Prince Rupert.
While this won't fill the entire gap left by the cruise industry & international travellers, we hope it will generate enough economic activity to help local businesses who rely on tourism stay afloat in these difficult times and rebound strong in 2021.
To give you an idea as to the impact that the cruise industry has on the North Coast and its economy, some data provided by Ms. Marlow offers a glimpse into how the industry provides a boost to the local commercial sector.
In 2019, 13,675 passengers visited Prince Rupert via cruise ships and the average passenger spent $87.71, for a local spending total of $1.2 million within the community, while crew spending totaled over $690,000.
In 2020, passenger numbers were expected to increase to 14,150, with an additional 8,220 crew members for an expected passenger and crew spend of $1.9 million.
The North Coast Review has also made an enquiry of the Port of Prince Rupert as to their view of the Federal suspension for the season and plans ahead for 2021, should we receive a reply, we'll offer up their thoughts with an update below to this article.
You can review more notes on the Prince Rupert Cruise footprint from our archive page here.
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