Vancouver’s cruise season getting underway
Posted May 23, 2013 10:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Tomorrow, three cruise ships will be docked at the port in Downtown Vancouver, marking the beginning of the cruise ship season.
Businesses are expecting a huge economic boost; for each cruise that stops in Vancouver over the summer, it’s about a $2-million contribution to the local economy.
Stephen Pearce with Tourism Vancouver says a big difference this year is we’ll be seeing some ships making their return to our city. “The Disney Wonder’s coming back; it was last here in 2011. The Norwegian Sun is coming back; we saw it in 2010.”
Tourism Vancouver expects over 800,000 passengers. Americans make up most of our tourists (57 per cent) but recently, we’ve seen a bigger boost from those overseas.
“The United Kingdom, for example… Australia, and we’re starting to see growth in cruises from China that are going to Alaska from Vancouver,” says Pearce.
About a quarter of cruise ship tourists come from elsewhere in Canada.
Pearce estimates Vancouver will see a total of 17 ships and about 270 port calls over the course of this season. He adds cruise ship tourists spend at least 2.6 nights in Vancouver.
