Canada Cruise Suspension Serves Up Pain From Coast to Coast: We’re “Hanging By A Thread”

February 5, 2021 ctn_admin

Tourism jobs are “hanging by a thread” from British Columbia to Atlantic Canada in the wake of a cruise suspension announcement by the Trudeau government.

Seeking to keep a lid on COVID-19 cases, Ottawa on Thursday said it won’t allow any cruise vessels with 100 or more passengers into Canadian waters from now until February 28, 2022.

That means a severe loss of tourism dollars, and potentially hundreds of jobs, in cities that rely on an influx of cruise passengers to keep their economies afloat.

Internationally registered cruise ships that sail in and out of the United States are legally required to stop in another country. For popular cruises to Alaska and around New England, that means at least one stop in Canada.

With Canadian waters now off limits for another year and three weeks, it pretty much kills most Alaska and New England cruises for the second year in a row, and that means a loss of thousands of passengers filing into coffee shops in Victoria or souvenir stores in Halifax.

“People are fearful, they’re very concerned about their businesses,” Walt Judas, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of British Columbia, said in an interview with the CBC. “They’re just hanging on by a thread today and it’s doubtful they’ll be able to hang on for another season.”

Ian Robertson, CEO of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, told the network there were supposed to be 287 ship calls in Victoria this year. He estimated the economic impact of the cruise ban at more than $130 million, and said it affects more than 800 jobs, directly and indirectly.

“It’s a real blow,” said Robertson. Like others in the industry, he was expecting some action by the federal government but not a cruise ban for another full year.

The extension of the cruise ban “will create a devastating impact on the dozens of local, small businesses that are involved with cruise in Victoria,” a spokesman for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority told CTV News.

Across the country, the port of Halifax in 2019 saw the arrival of 179 cruise ships carrying more than 300,000 passengers, many of whom ate at local restaurants, shopped at local businesses or took bus trips outside the city to spots like Peggys Cove.

The owner of Sweet Pea Boutique in Halifax told CBC that many downtown businesses rely on a steady stream of cruise ship passengers every summer.

“There are some businesses that really bank on that June to September, October tourist season to make it through the winter, and now they don’t have another one — it’s going to be rough. I think you’re going to see a lot more closures this year.”

The cruise suspension also will hit tourism businesses in Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfounland & Labrador.

In a CBC story posted last May 31, Joan Judson of Rusty Rover Tours in PEI, said nearly 90% of her business comes from cruise ships.

Nearly 90 per cent of Judson’s business comes from cruise ships.

Cruise Lines International Association says it hopes to convince Ottawa to shorten the suspension.

Forbes.com reports that in 2019, the Canadian cruise industry comprised 29,000 jobs paying $1.43 billion in wages. The same year, the industry generated a total of $4.25 billion in economic activity in Canada, which was a 33% jump from 2016.

“Two years without cruising in Canada will have potentially irreversible consequences for families throughout the country,” CLIA officials said. “We stand ready to work with Canadian health and transportation officials to operationalize a path forward.”

Ships with less than 100 passengers can seemingly still sail to Alaska and back from U.S. ports. Smaller cruise ships also could operate in Canadian waters, including in British Columbia, Atlantic Canada and the Great Lakes.

But they can’t come close to the economic impact of the big ships.

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