Ottawa officially cancels cruise ship season
Vancouver businesses dependant on tourism take another hit along with closure of U.S. border
“Gastown is really dead,” said Louise Vargas, owner of Gastown Soapworks, one of the many souvenir shops and other businesses in the neighbourhood that normally do a brisk trade thanks to the millions of summertime tourists, many of whom arrive by cruise ship.
Transport Canada has officially sunk the 2020 cruise ship season with an announcement Friday to extend the ban on ships with overnight accommodations and with room for more than 100 passengers from operating in Canadian waters until Oct. 31.
“Our government is committed to protecting Canadians, particularly during these challenging times,” federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said in a news release.
Tourism has already been disrupted by the closing until at least June 21 of the U.S. border to non-essential travel, so Vargas had pivoted her business to produce hand sanitizer under permit from Health Canada until next March and said she will be able to survive.
She isn’t expecting enough local visitors to offset the loss of business from international tourists because Gastown hasn’t got a large residential community, parking is expensive, and many downtown workers are working from home.
“Very, very occasionally” the shop will get a tourist customer, she said.
An estimated 1.3 million cruise ship passengers on 310 ships were scheduled to make port in Vancouver this year. Each ship translates into $3 million in tourism spending.
“This is another bit of bad news for the industry,” said Sanjay Goel, owner of Cruise Connections, who said he had been continuing to book cruises during the pandemic.
“We no longer have this important (tourism) anchor for the country. All of that’s gone.”
He said the Alaskan routes have been very popular with Americans for many years, and “with people staying close to home, it had become even more popular” this year.
But some cruise companies, including Holland America and Princess Cruises, had already cancelled their Alaskan cruises after Canada closed its international borders in March and announced a temporary ban on cruise ships.
“We already had an early sign of this coming,” said Dayna Miller, director of global partnerships for Tourism Vancouver.
She said the tourism industry is hoping locals will replace at least part of the loss of international tourism.
“To be back to full capacity, we need to be able to welcome back international visitors. They tend to spend more time and spend more on vacation,” she said.
Until the restrictions are relaxed on the border, “We’re doing our best to encourage locals to plan staycations.”
She said last year, Metro Vancouver saw 11 million visitors and an estimated $9.8 billion in total visitor spending.
This year, Tourism Vancouver is forecasting four million visitors and a 68-per-cent decline in total visitor spending.
“We’re optimistic we’ll be able to see domestic travel return,” Miller said. “But we’re being very cautious.”
Transport Canada’s Friday announcement also said that as of July 1, all other passenger vessels are to follow provincial, local and regional health authority requirements. For instance, ferries and water taxis must continue to reduce the number of passengers or keep people in their vehicles, and enhance cleaning and hygiene measures.