Harbour hopping
Harbour Hoppers one step closer to coming to Sydney
A Halifax tourism attraction is one step closer to expanding its operations to Sydney this summer.
Atlantic Ambassatours Ltd., a Halifax-based company, received approval from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on Wednesday to operate its Harbour Hoppers amphibious tours in Sydney for the months of September and October to coincide with the island’s prime tourism season.
Terri MacCulloch, communications manager for Ambassatours, said the company is excited about the possibility of having the vehicles in Cape Breton.
“We definitely had great interest from the cruise lines in experiencing the Harbour Hoppers in other ports and we chose Sydney for this next expansion,” she said.
Bernadette MacNeil, manager, marketing and development for the port of Sydney, said the port is happy to hear of the progress.
“They are available at a lot of ports and of course we looked on with jealousy because that was the case,” she said. “We know that it’s going to be such a pleasure and an added experience for our cruise ship guests to enjoy.”
The Harbour Hoopers are popular with tourists and locals in Halifax.
The amphibious adventure showcases the city by land and sea, taking people places of interest such as Citadel Hill National Historic Site, the Victorian Public Gardens, and St. Paul’s Church to name a few.
The tour continues through the downtown core of Halifax before making a slash into Halifax Harbour. The cruise continues in the water, passing George’s Island Lighthouse, the Halifax waterfront boardwalk, historic properties as well as the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
The tour, which last 55 minutes in Halifax, is fully narrated with topics such as the Halifax Explosion as well as the history of the naval dockyards in Halifax.
The Harbour Hoppers are expected to arrive in Sydney in mid-August. They will be available to cruise ship passengers and the public.
“There are big demand for Harbour Hoppers, they are quite popular and very unique,” she said. “The city and the port have been wonderful to work with, they are fully in support and accommodating, they have been very good to work with throughout this whole process.”
Atlantic Ambassatours Ltd., have six Harbour Hoppers in Halifax. The company recently added two more to its fleet. With two of the vehicles expected to come to Sydney, the company will operate four vehicles in Halifax during those two months.
MacNeil believes having the Harbour Hoppers in Sydney is going to add value to the city.
“It does provide an additional mode of transportation for which we are lacking – we have a shortage of transportation, but in addition the timing is so great because of all
the positive things happening along the boardwalk.”
This year, the Port of Sydney will see a 67 per cent increase in cruse ship calls from 2016. Ninety ships are scheduled to visit Sydney this season with the first arriving on April 30. The port is projecting over 135,000 cruise ship passengers this year, pending all the ships arrive full, not counting crew members.
MacCulloch said the head of the company’s marine division has already visited Sydney, scouting for the access ramp in and out of the harbour. She said right now the ramp by the former Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club is a potential location.
The company has already done a street assessment and MacCulloch confirmed there will be streets the vehicles will not be able to use.
“We are all about operating safely and we like to be good neighbours, we don’t want people to feel that we’re oversized for the street or causing more traffic issues because we’re on the street,” said MacCulloch. “We are quite respectful to the local community.”
As of now, the route for the Harbour Hopper tours in Sydney is unknown. MacCulloch said the next step is submitting a route proposal to the municipality for approval.